Tough new laws are being introduced to prevent Northern Ireland farmers claiming compensation for sheep that do not exist, it was confirmed tonight.
With Northern Ireland Agriculture Minister Ms Brid Rodgers under pressure after revealing she did not have powers to prosecute subsidy cheats in South Armagh, her officials said legislation would be brought in as soon as possible.
The Director of Public Prosecutions decided not to press charges against 12 farmers because of a loophole identified in an earlier case by a legal representative.
Mr Ronnie Jordan, head of grants and subsidies, said a new offence would be introduced to penalise farmers for failing to notify the department of changes in sheep numbers.
He said the new laws must be passed at Stormont before December 4th, when applications begin for the 2002 Sheep Annual Premium Scheme.
The 12 farmers escaped prosecution after falsely claiming for sheep they said had been culled during the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in South Armagh in March.
A follow-up investigation by Department of Agriculture officials later discovered that they had no sheep at the time of the cull.
If found guilty, they would have faced fines of up to £2,000.
But the cases were dropped because in current legislation, officials have to prove that the farmers provided information that they knew to be false at the time of their claim.
The scandal today led to calls for the resignation of Stormont Agriculture Minister Brid Rodgers.
Democratic Unionist MLA Mr Ian Paisley Junior accused the minister of striking a deal with the farmers, giving them a "get out of jail free card".
But Mrs Rodgers vehemently denied his claims, asking if Mr Paisley's accusations were true why would she have informed the public of the fraud and passed on the information to the DPP.
Farmers leaders tonight agreed the law must now be changed but said that genuine farmers must not be persecuted by an over zealous reaction.
Meanwhile, Mr Jordan told the Northern Agriculture Committee the Department became aware there was a problem in the law last month when the DPP advised them to withdraw a case that had been appealed.
This case was not related to the 12 cases in South Armagh.
PA