September 4th 2014

ICSA has warned that appeals in relation to Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS) overclaims may not be resolved until well into next year.

“There has been no update on figures in relation to these appeals since June 24th,” said ICSA president Patrick Kent. “With only 3,854 cases finalised, that leaves more than 7,000 farmers in limbo, and it’s likely that the cases which have been resolved were the less complicated ones. Moreover, the Minister makes no reference at all to the status of over 2,500 appeals that have neither been finalised nor referred for verification visit – where are these cases now? There is no way that this work can be completed by the end of 2014.”

“The delay in processing these appeals is just not good enough,” continued Mr. Kent. “With up to 100% penalties on their single farm payment, farmers are at risk of serious financial difficulties. On top of this, we still don’t know where we stand in relation to the retrospective aspect of the penalties. ICSA is now calling on the Minister to clarify the position in relation to these appeals and to do everything in his power to expedite the process.”

In response to a Dáil question on June 24th, Minister Coveney revealed that 10,173 appeals had been received, of which 3,852 had been finalised, with a further 3,464 referred for verification visit. 179 had been referred to the Appeals Committee for consideration and this figure was expected to increase in tandem with the number of verification visits finalised.