THE Department of Agriculture has defended its use of a €1.5m computer system which has collapsed on a number of occasions due to technical faults.

Claims have also been made that the programme – which allows farmers to apply for grants online – has inadvertently given access to other farmers' information, raising questions of privacy and confidentiality.

Fine Gael's agricultural spokes­man Michael Creed said that the system is so flawed it will inevitably lead to the suspension of the entire programme and said the matter should be of interest to the Public Accounts Committee (Pac).

The system was implemented to service the online applications for the Reps scheme, whereby farmers can receive up to €10,000 a year for running their operations in an environmentally friendly and sustainable manner.

A statement from the department played down difficulties with the system but confirmed there have been problems.

However, Creed said: "I do know that Reps crashed repeatedly; it's not PPars but it's a damning disgrace that a computer system that they have spent a lot of money developing is as bad as this is.

"There have been a lot of applications made online and some of them have yet to be approved but because this has been such a disaster, it is likely to be suspended. It is because of a myriad of problems, of which the online applications is just one.

"I think that this is an issue that should be of interest to the Public Accounts Committee."

Creed claimed the system has proven itself an "extreme irritation" to farmers. He also said he knew of a case in Cavan where a planner had gained access to someone else's file.

"I had a casual conversation with a Reps planner, which is someone who has been approved by the department to draw up submissions on behalf of farmers," he said.

"When he was in the system, it gave him access to another farmer's plans. That raises privacy and confidentiality issues."

A statement from the department said there was one "brief" period in April when the system was unavailable due to a hardware fault.

"On one other occasion, the system was placed under extreme and unprecedented pressure by Reps planners," it said. "Additional services were quickly added to support the system. This was an isolated incident and there is no evidence to suggest that the eReps system has otherwise prevented planners from submitting Reps plans to the department."

The department said it would investigate any case of a planner gaining access to another person's application.