The Irish Farmers' Association - IFA

Lobbying Organisation The Irish Farmers' Association - IFA

Date published 20 Sep, 2024

Relevant Matter Legislation

Public Policy Area Agriculture

Period 1 May, 2024 to 31 Aug, 2024

Specific Details Agricultural Appeals (Amendment) Bill 2024

Intended results To ensure that farmers have trust in the appeals process, an Independent board should be established with independent members, who in turn should select and Independent Chairperson. To highlight that the scope of the remit is restrictive, consideration should be given to extending the scope of remit beyond a point of fact/law - for example by reason of Force majeure or the non-action of a contracted third party. IFA's view is that its scope should be extended to all appeal cases. To highlight that the new reality of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and associated schemes, combined with an increased reliance on third parties (farm planners/advisors etc) and the emergence of a new monitoring infrastructure (Area Monitoring System AMS) - which across Europe has been shown to increase significantly the number of ground inspections required - will likely increase the volume of reviews/appeals. To question whether there was consideration given to affording participants opportunity to appeal a case to Circuit Court rather than via the High Court. There are significant expenses involved with High Court proceedings that is simply restrictive on farmers. To seek clarity on what weighting is assigned to the decisions of the Divisional groups. Do they need to report back to the Review Panel with their deliberations for approval, or does their decision carry equal weighting to the Review Panel? To question what is best practice in terms of the operations of the Agricultural Appeals Review Panel (or Divisions) with regard to pre-notification of appeals (physical/oral). What is the expected turnaround of appeal decisions etc? To emphasise that this body must have sufficient technical and administrative resources to deal with appeals in a speedy and efficient manner.

Name of person primarily responsible for lobbying on this activity John Curran IFA Rural Development Chair, Shane Whelan IFA Senior Policy Executive

Did any Designated Public Official(DPO) or former Designated Public Official(DPO) carry out lobbying activities on your behalf in relation to this return? You must include yourself, and answer Yes, if you are a current DPO or a DPO at any time in the past. (What is a Designated Public Official?) No

Did you manage or direct a grassroots campaign? No

Was this lobbying done on behalf of a client? No

Lobbying activity

The following activities occurred for this specific Subject Matter Area.

Email (2-5)

Informal communication (2-5)

Designated public officials lobbied

The following DPOs were lobbied during this return period on this specific Subject Matter Area. These DPOs were involved in at least one of the Lobbying Activities listed above, but not necessarily all of them. As returns are specific to a Subject Matter Area the above Lobbying Activities may be associated with multiple returns.

Claire Kerrane TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Aodhan O'Riordain MEP (European Parliament)

Barry Andrews MEP (European Parliament)

Billy Kelleher MEP (European Parliament)

Ciaran Mullooly MEP (European Parliament)

Cynthia Ní Mhurchú MEP (European Parliament)

Kathleen Funchion MEP (European Parliament)

Luke Ming Flanagan MEP (European Parliament)

Lynn Boylan MEP (European Parliament)

Maria Walsh MEP (European Parliament)

Michael McNamara MEP (European Parliament)

Nina Carberry MEP (European Parliament)

Regina Doherty MEP (European Parliament)

Sean Kelly MEP (European Parliament)

Barry Cowen MEP (European Parliament)

Jackie Cahill TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Michael Collins TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Michael Fitzmaurice TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Michael Ring TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Joe Flaherty TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Paul Kehoe TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Claire Kerrane TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Brian Leddin TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Johnny Mythen TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Tim Lombard Senator (Seanad)

Victor Boyhan Senator (Seanad)

Paul Daly Senator (Seanad)

Denis O'Donovan Senator (Seanad)