The Agriculture and Fisheries (Financial Assistance) (Northern Ireland) Order 1986

Recovery of grant and revocation of approval

12.—(1) If at any time after the approval of proposals under Article 9 or 10, and whether before or after the proposals have been fully carried out, it appears to the Department—

(a) that any condition imposed by the Department in giving its approval has not been complied with; or

(b) in the case of proposals for the carrying out of work, that the work has been badly done, or has been or is being unreasonably delayed, or is unlikely to be completed; or

(c) that in connection with the submission of the proposals the person submitting them gave information on any matter which was false or misleading in a material respect,

the Department may, on demand made after compliance with paragraph (3), recover any grant or any part of a grant paid by it by reference to the proposals and revoke the approval in whole or in part.

(2) In the case of a grant under Article 10 which is a lump sum payable by instalments or a grant by way of annuity the Department may, in a case within paragraph (1)(a) or (c), after compliance with paragraph (3) direct that future instalments of the grant or annuity shall not be payable.

(3) Before making a demand, revoking an approval or giving a direction under paragraph (1) or (2), the Department—

(a) shall give to any person to whom any payment by way of grant would be payable by reference to the proposals, or from whom any such payment would be recoverable, a written notification of the reasons for the action proposed to be taken by the Department; and

(b) shall accord to each such person an opportunity of appearing before and being heard by a person appointed for the purpose by the Department; and

(c) shall consider the report by a person so approinted and supply a copy of the report to each person who is entitled to appear before the person submitting it.