DARD more severe in implementing EU legislation
25 August 2006
Jim Allister has claimed that farmers within Northern Ireland are more likely to be penalised for breeching EU legislation compared to farmers in other Member States. The Member of the European Parliament made the comments following the announcement from DARD that £2.8 million had been withheld from Single Farm Payments within Northern Ireland. The corresponding figure of withheld payments in the Republic of Ireland for sanctions applied during cross-compliance inspections in 2005 was £229,000.
Jim Allister commented, “The total Single Farm Payment paid to farmers within Northern Ireland is only 1/3 of the total Single Farm Payment issued to farmers in the Republic of Ireland. Despite this, the total financial penalty withheld for non-compliances within Northern Ireland is more than 10 times the amount withheld from the farming industry in the Republic of Ireland. I have no doubt that farmers within Northern Ireland are as good if not better at adhering to rules compared to their counterparts in the Republic of Ireland. This leads me to draw the conclusion that EU rules are more stringently enforced within Northern Ireland compared to other regions of Europe. This is unacceptable.
“I plan to raise this issue with the agricultural Minister when I meet him in Brussels next Tuesday. I welcome the fact that the Minister is coming to Brussels to work for the Northern Ireland agricultural and fishing industry. I will be calling on the Minister to review why Northern Ireland farmers are being more stringently penalised and urging him to take immediate steps to ensure that a similar pattern is not repeated for 2006."
During the meeting on Tuesday with the Agricultural Minister Jim Allister is hoping to raise other issues including financial support for the dairy sector, the action plan for the implementation of the Nitrates Directive, funding for the Farm Nutrient Management Scheme and an extension to the time for the completion of works under the Farm Nutrient Management Scheme.
