Departmental Schemes

Wednesday, 25 March 2026

Ceisteanna (219)

Paul Lawless

Ceist:

219. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will provide a table detailing the number of financial penalties imposed on farmers for failure to comply with schemes (details supplied); the total monetary value of the financial penalties imposed under each scheme, where that re-couped or withheld money is spent; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22638/26]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine

The information requested by the Deputy is currently being collated and will be forwarded to the Deputy when it is available.

The following deferred reply was recieved under Standing Orders.

I wish to inform the Deputy that the information requested in relation to financial penalties imposed on farmers for failure to comply with schemes (details supplied) over the past 10 years, is set out in the attached table.

There was no National Sheep Welfare scheme for the period 2016 – 2023 inclusive, and no SCEP scheme for the period 2016 – 2022 inclusive. The BISS, ACRES and CISYF schemes were launched in 2023 and the SIM scheme launched in 2021. The 2025 National Sheep Welfare scheme, CISYF and TAMS penalty cases are currently being processed.

Year	Scheme	Number of financial penalties	Total Monetary Value €	Where re-couped/ withheld money was spent
2023-2025	Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS)	8,995	6,861,857	Any amount withheld at payment time is available to be used for further scheme payments. Where debts are identified and raised after payment, these funds are returned to the Commission
2016-2025	Areas of Natural Constraint Scheme (ANC)	40,964	10,047,882	Retuned to fund ANC payments
2016-2025	Organic Farming Scheme (OFS)	1,103	1,200,386	Returned and used as part of the OFS budget
2016-2024	Targeted Agriculture Modernisation Scheme (TAMS)	5,886	5,077,267	Any amount withheld at payment time is available to be used for further scheme payments. Where debts are identified and raised after payment, these funds are returned to the Commission
2021-2025	Straw Incorporation Measure (SIM)	429	300,517	Any amount withheld at payment time is available to be used for further scheme payments. Where debts are identified and raised after payment, these funds are returned to the Commission.
2023-2025	Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES)	20,090	2,632,910	Reinvested into the ACRES scheme
2023-2025	Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme (SCEP)	10,872	1,095,951	Returned to fund SCEP payments
2023-2024	Complementary Income Support for Young Farmers (CISYF)	164	940,000	Monies arising from the financial penalties imposed for unsuccessful CISYF inspection cases are paid over to the EU Commission
2024	National Sheep Welfare Scheme (NSWS)	401	117,760	Retuned to fund NSWS payments