The secretary-general of the Department of Agriculture has denied that "wholesale" defrauding of millions of pounds of Government and EU funds by farmers and meat-processing plants went on "under the noses" of Department officials and inspectors for years.
Mr John Malone told the Public Accounts Committee, which examined the 1999 report of the Comptroller and Auditor General on Agriculture, Food and Rural Development yesterday that lessons had been learned following the foot-and-mouth crisis.
Tighter internal controls, as well as legislation and financial penalties, had now been put in place to prevent fraud.
The Department was working closely with the Revenue Commissioners, the Garda and the Criminal Assets Bureau, Mr Malone said.
If any meat-processing company had colluded in fraud or in smuggling, as alleged by committee members, it would be prosecuted.
Following irregularities in premium payments for sheep uncovered during the recent freeze on animal movements, the Department would now contact farmers to explain irregularities in their claims and refer any evidence of fraud to the Garda, Mr Malone said.
He told the committee that while the very survival of the State's beef industry following the beef tribunal had depended on accurate identification of Irish cattle, there was no such system in place for sheep.
This would be rectified when sheep-tagging started next month. Mr Bernard Durkan (FG) said it now seemed sheep were appearing in the country "almost as tourists" so that farmers could claim premium payments.
"This presents an appalling vista in relation to the failure of the Department to grapple with a situation which was clearly under their noses," he said.
Mr Michael Bell (Lab) said it would appear there had been defrauding of "millions of pounds" for a number of years and claimed this information had been passed to Department of Agriculture officials.
Mr Malone told the committee he rejected the suggestion that wholesale fraud had gone on with the knowledge of officials. However, the Department was closing off loopholes which might allow farmers to "assimilate" cattle into the identification system.