The farm organisations have rejected out of hand a proposed system of penalty points that would be imposed on farmers for non-compliance with animal registration and identification regulations.
The proposal, which was made to the farm organisations by the Department of Agriculture during partnership talks, was met with absolute dismissal by the farmers.
They were joined by Fine Gael, whose agriculture spokesman, Denis Naughten, said the introduction of such a system would be "farmer persecution".
The Irish Cattle and Sheepowners' Association (ICSA) described the system as unacceptable and draconian because it would lead to severe penalties for even the most trivial of clerical errors. The Irish Farmers' Association pledged to oppose the points system.
The scheme could see farmers clocking up 11 penalty points in a three-year period, which would lead to a cut in their single farm payment.
Farmers would get penalty points for making clerical errors or for their sheep or cattle not having their tags.
Thomas Honner, the president of Macra na Feirme, complained that the three-year period during which penalty points could accrue was too lengthy.
He said he wanted the number of inspections to be reduced and the notice for inspections increased, while making it clear that his organisation would never defend people who deliberately set out to defraud the regulatory system.
"With the rise in number of farmers with off-farm employment and the number of full-time farmers who now have no other help on the farm, farm inspections are hugely inconvenient and costly.
"We should be making much better use of the animal traceability database to reduce the number of on-farm inspections," said Mr Honner.
Yesterday, ICSA president Malcolm Thompson demanded that farmers should be entitled to credits for abiding by regulations and that these should be set against the proposed penalty points.
He said that farmers who achieved 95 per cent or better for regularly registering their calves on time, updating their herd register, having all sales and movement dockets to hand and having their cattle tagged should be given credit points.
"ICSA is continuing to argue that no farmer can be expected to be 100 per cent accurate all of the time. Farmers who are making a genuine and bona-fide attempt to produce quality food, to farm in accordance with good practice and to respect the terms of the single-payment scheme must not be terrorised by a witch-hunt," he said.
It was reported yesterday that the European Parliament's agriculture committee is to draw up a report on how farm inspections are carried out across the European Union to ensure that there is full accountability for taxpayers' money.
Máiréad McGuinness MEP (Fine Gael) had complained to the committee that farmers in Ireland were concerned they were being treated as guilty in the inspection system until they proved themselves innocent.