Minister for Agriculture Mary Coughlan has rejected Fine Gael claims that she "sidestepped" the critical issue of no-notice inspection of farms.
Fine Gael agriculture spokesman Denis Naughten said it felt like all the farmers in the country were expecting her to announce a change in the current unworkable system at the Fianna Fáil Ardfheis.
However, last night the Minister rejected Mr Naughten's comments on farm inspections and said he showed a complete lack of understanding of the problem and the process.
"Farmers know that a change in the inspections regime requires a change in the law at EU level. They also know that any unilateral move by an Irish Minister for Agriculture on no-notice inspections would place their single farm entitlement in jeopardy," she said.
"I am not willing to play politics with farmers' livelihoods. The Single Farm Payment was worth over €1.3 billion in direct payments to Irish farmers last year.
"This is a huge sum of money and vital income for farm families. To act as Deputy Naughten is suggesting would jeopardise those payments and put farmers at risk," she said.
Ms Coughlan said it needed to be highlighted that the number of farm inspections had fallen by 10,000 in just two years, and that 92 per cent of the 7,500 inspections that took place last year, were announced.
"I have been clear with farmers that in Government we are committed to working toward a situation where we have full 14-day notice prior to an inspector's arrival on farm," she said.
The Minister said she had worked hard and succeeded in putting simplification of the system at the top of the EU agenda by raising the issue with the German agricultural minister Horst Seehofer well ahead of the EU presidency.
She said she had also raised the matter at the Council of Agricultural Ministers, and personally with the Agriculture Commissioner, Mariann Fischer Böel.
"During these negotiations, not only have I sought change as regards advance notification of inspections, I have also prioritised the area of tolerance before a financial penalty hits in," she said.
Ms Coughlan said following a commission examination of the problems, her objective was to have the changes agreed in time to apply to the 2007 inspection programme.