ONLY 8,000 Irish farms were visited by Government inspectors last year to ensure they complied with EU and Irish regulations which deliver €1.9 billion in payments.
Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smith said that in 2004 18,000 farmers were subject to on-farm inspection, but by last year this dropped to 11,314, a reduction of 37 per cent.
“In fact, only 8,000 farms were the subject of an actual visit, with the remainder checked by remote sensing. Consequently, the actual reduction in the number of on-farm inspections over a period of five years was in the region of 56 per cent,” said the Minister.
He told the recent Irish Cattle and Sheepfarmers’ Association agm that considerable progress had been made in reducing the number of on-farm inspections to which farm organisations object.
However, he said, farmers had to be compliant with a large number of schemes that pay them a total of €1.9 billion or risk losing a portion or all of their grants.
“In 2004, 6,493 farmers were penalised, mainly for breaches of the rules on identification and registration of bovine animals. In 2009, 344 farmers were penalised as a result of breaches of the rules on identification and registration of bovine animals, a reduction of 94 per cent,” he said.
“In 2004, some €4 million was withheld from farmers by way of penalties. The figure for 2009 is likely to be in the region of €0.86 million, a reduction of 78.5 per cent,” he added.
“Perhaps the most striking statistic is that 33 per cent of the farms inspected in 2004 had problems with the identification and registration of bovines. That figure had been reduced to 5 per cent in 2009,” said the Minister.
The Minister said the reduction in the number of inspections had delivered significant administrative savings for the Department of Agriculture.
He said a complete reorganisation of the department’s local office network would result in financial savings for the department of €30 million annually and the reduction of over 400 staff and this allowed him increase payments on the Reps scheme.