A TD has called on Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue to place a cap on the number of times a farmer can be randomly inspected over a given time period.
Independent TD Carol Nolan said this morning (Monday, November 8) that the minister should revise the inspection regime operated by his department.
Nolan raised the issue in parliamentary question with Minister McConalogue recently, following what she said was a “notable rise” in the number of farmers contacting her to raise concerns around the selection process and, in particular, the “fairness and frequency of the process”.
In her question to the minister, Nolan asked if he would consider revising the inspection regime operated by the department.
In a written response, Minister McConalogue said that EU regulations govern the process by which farmers are inspected for Good Agricultural and Environmental Conditions (GAECs) under Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) schemes.
He pointed out that these regulations require that selection for inspection is undertaken through a risk analysis process, with cases being selected on a “risk and random” basis. The department is also required to use the results of previous inspections – including any penalties and non-compliance – to determine risk, according to the minister.
Finally, Minister McConalogue said that any change to inspection rules would require changes to those EU regulations.
Responding to this, Nolan said: “We are all aware that farm inspections in this state are essentially governed by the EU… This is something that, at least in principle, most farmers are happy to accept since the vast majority are engaged in good practice as a matter of routine.
“From what I am hearing, however, there is a problem with the application of these EU rules, in particular the risk analysis process on which cases are being selected on a ‘risk and random basis.’ For the farmers who are contacting me, the process seems anything but ‘random’,” the Laois-Offaly TD argued.
She went on: “In some cases, farmers feel they are being overselected and this is having a detrimental impact not only on productivity but also on mental health.”
Nolan called for a “bit of cop-on” to be applied and for inspectors to “realise where areas of genuine concern exits and where it is a case that a farmer is being disproportionally singled-out”.
“No one is saying let’s abandon all inspections. But clearly, we need to look again at how the system is operating in the real world and amend it accordingly,” the TD concluded.