The cost of legal settlements to farmer clients at State agricultural research and training agency, Teagasc last year increased more than five fold to €503,000.
That is according to the 2023 Teagasc annual report which discloses that last year, Teagasc paid the €503,000 to 49 farm clients
The increase in settlements - which has drawn the attention of Comptroller and Auditor General, Seamus McCarthy - were made to 49 farm clients who had engaged Teagasc to prepare and submit applications and other work for a range of Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine schemes, and where the applications had been unsuccessful.
Teagasc also incurred €28,000 in associated legal fees.
The report states that taking account of unresolved claims on December 31st 2023, Teagasc increased the provision for future settlements by €167,000 with a total charge of €503,000 in the accounts.
The note states that it can take years to settle complex cases and 21% - or €72,000 - of the 2023 payments related to issues arising pre 2014.
The €503,000 in respect of 49 settlements compare to €98,000 paid out in respect of 14 settlements in 2022.
In a statement on internal control, chairman of An Teagasc, Liam Herhily states: "I confirm that Teagasc has procedures in place to assure quality service delivery and fulfilment of contractual obligations to clients, and to respond to client complaints.
He said that Teagasc advisory work related to Dept of Agriculture regulations and schemes such as ACRES, increased significantly during 2022/23 with an increase in advisory income of over €4.7m in 2022 alone.
He said: "Teagasc Terms of Engagement with clients have been recently reviewed and strengthened by our legal advisers and are now considered robust."
He added that Teagasc has also reverted to office consultations with clients post Covid which are important for avoiding errors in scheme applications.
Mr Herlihy stated that the Dept of Agriculture is implementing improvements to its 'Ag Food' platform which will be of considerable assistance given the complexity of Scheme applications.
A spokesman for Teagasc said today: "The increase in settlements during 2023 was as a result of settling a number of large claims including a large legacy claim dating back to 2009.
These claims involved Basic Payment Scheme (BPS), Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (TAMS) and Nitrates issues.
He said: "The launch of ACRES Tranche 1 at the end of 2022 with an extremely tight deadline, led to a small number of errors on plans where there was no facility to correct minor issues.
He said: "Since year end, Teagasc has implemented new preventative controls to limit recurring incidents. These include face to face training events, improved record keeping of consultations, cross checking measures in plans with the client and the appointment of a senior adviser to review complex applications."
Last year, Teagasc's spend was €237mwhich was €13m or 6% - greater than in 2022.
Numbers employed by Teagasc last year increased from 1,360 to 1,439 as staff costs increased to €90.64m.
The numbers earning over €100,000 last year totalled 108 and pay to the Director of Teagasc, Prof Frank O’Mara last year increased from €178,000 to €184,000.
Reporting by Gordon Deegan
