Satellite pictures of crops taken up to 12 years ago are being used by the Department of Agriculture to investigate false claims by some of the Republic's top farmers for EU arable aid.
It confirmed yesterday that "a significant proportion" of cereal farmers who are under investigation have been claiming payments on land which was ineligible under the scheme.
It had written to 5,000 farm applicants asking them for proof that the land on which they claimed an average of €320 per hectare last year was eligible for payment. "Some 75 per cent of the farmers queried produced evidence of eligibility. In the remaining cases, the Department is using satellite imagery for each of the years 1987 to 1991 to determine if the land parcels had been used for tillage crops during any of those years," said the Department's statement.
"So far, the indications are that a signification proportion of these applicants are ineligible. Where land is found to be ineligible, the appropriate area aid penalties will be applied and all over-payments will be recovered from farmers," it added. Last year the Department paid out €130 million to 17,000 applicants.