Galway East deputy Seán Canney has written to the Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed requesting a change to the Departmen’ts inspection regime for single farm payments.
Currently, once an inspection takes place penalties are automatically imposed on the farmer and there is no time allocated to allow the farmer address the problem.
“In many cases the issues are very minor. I am calling on the Minister to allow a 30 days period in order for the farmer to rectify the problem.The protocol is presently in place for the Board Bia Quality Assurance Scheme and it is proving to be very successful,” said Dep Canney.
“Inspections by their nature are very stressful for the farmer and if the inspection allowed 30 days to take corrective action, it would remove the stress. Farming is very volatile with flood, drought, and fluctuation in prices, so it is only right that we assist the farm family to get the maximum grants they are entitled to,” he concluded.
