Gildernew to challenge disallowance in European courts

During a statement to the Assembly today, Minister Michelle Gildernew MP MLA confirmed that DARD is taking its fight against EU disallowance to the European Court of Justice.

The Minister delivered her statement to set out her Department’s position in regard to the EU Disallowance threat relating to its administration of European Agricultural Funds and to detail the actions being taken to counter it. She said: “I have significant concerns that the Commission is being heavy handed and is over-estimating the risk to public funds. I know that I am not alone in that concern among member states.”

Confirming the Department's latest action in challenging the Commission's decision to disallow, she continued: “I can confirm that the Department is taking the necessary steps today to take a case to the European Court of Justice and that it has the support of the Executive in this matter. The action will be taken by the Department, with appropriate legal advice from the member state and from the Attorney General’s office.

“In addition to the challenges to the Commission, we are also taking action to mitigate against further disallowance by ensuring greater compliance with the Commission’s requirements.

“Our mapping system which had proved largely satisfactory for the purposes of production based schemes turned out to be unsatisfactory for the purposes of Single Farm Payment(SFP). We have commissioned the re-mapping of all farms within the system and will systematically review, and where necessary amend, every field within the department’s mapping system – that’s nearly 750,000 separate fields. Additional resources are being brought onstream to do this work, including 60 planners who have been redeployed to assist in this work.

“We have also improved the quality of the on-farm inspections by providing better training for inspectors; introduced mobile mapping with all inspections being supported by ortho-photography since 2009; increased the resources available for inspection and issued new guidance to inspectors.”

Highlighting the knock on effect that the mapping review could have upon the processing of this year’s SFP claims, the Minister said: “It is still difficult at this stage to give precise timescales, but the aim is to get as many maps as possible improved in advance of the 2011 scheme year. We have to make sure that verification of these new maps and any changes farmers want to make do not have a negative impact on the processing of the 2011 claims. This will help ensure we meet the Commission’s targets for payments and avoid the risk of disallowance on that account.”

Calling on farmers to check their maps and take appropriate action, if necessary, Minister Gildernew said:“The Commission is clear that there is an onus on farm businesses to ensure that their maps are correct and that they are claiming only on those parts of their fields that are eligible.

“Farmers have to understand that the correctness of the farm map and the careful maintenance of eligible areas are at the core of their business, in the way that counting cattle or sheep was central before 2005. Whilst the Department supplies maps it is the responsibility of farm businesses to ensure they are correct.

“If the farmer approaches the Department, then the adjustments to maps and claims can be made with a less severe impact financially than if the Department approaches the farmer in the form of an inspection when the result may be very severe penalties indeed.

“I am committed to satisfying the Commission in relation to the quality of our mapping system by 2012 and to working closely with the Ulster Farmers Union (UFU) and Northern Ireland Agricultural Producers Association (NIAPA) to ensure the maps are issued to farmers in an orderly way. I am grateful for the active involvement and critical support of colleagues in the Executive and members of this Assembly, particularly the Agriculture and Rural Development Committee.”

Notes to editors:

1. A full copy of the statement is available at the DARD Website
2. Media enquiries to the DARD Press Office on 028 9052 4619 or out of hours contact the Duty Press Officer via pager number 07699 715 440 and your call will be returned.