Fury as Department of Agriculture claw back grants

FARMERS are becoming wary of joining any scheme for fear that monies that they receive from the Department of Agriculture may be recouped.

It has emerged in recent weeks that several Galway farmers have been contacted by the Department in an effort to recoup payments . . . most of which have already been spent.

There are claims that following site inspections that farmers are being asked for their payments back – some of them are now wondering when is it safe to re-invest the money that they get in Single Farm Payment or Disadvantaged Area Scheme.

According to Galway East TD, Paul Connaughton jnr, he has been approached by several farmers who have asked him when they can be sure that money they receive from the Department of Agriculture is not going to be recouped.

The Fine Gael TD said that in recent weeks he had heard of a number of farmers who had received letters from the Dept. of Agriculture stating that they were seeking to recoup their 2014 Single Farm Payment and possibly their Disadvantaged Area Scheme payment following on-farm inspections.

“These farmers applied for their payments, received them and have that money long spent on their day-to-day farm operations.

“If a Department official made a decision last year that was later found to be incorrect and overturned on appeal, would the Department recoup a month’s wages? I think not.

“Farmers have a reasonable expectation that money received in years gone by belongs to them. The current situation is set to get even worse with the new suckler cow scheme, which states that if problems are found, the farmer risks losing all the money received.

“I have previously encountered this problem with AEOS, where farmers had money received over a number of years recouped because they did not fulfil the five year contract,” Deputy Connaughton said.

The Mountbellew based TD said that such recoupments were making farmers wary of joining any scheme at the moment.

“I believe that we should only have a short window of opportunity where clawbacks can be made and after that period a famer can be assured that the money is indeed theirs,” Deputy Connaughton added.