Almost £5million in overpayments to farmers has been written off by Northern Ireland's Department of Agriculture.
The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) paid farmers millions in errors between 2007 and 2013. The department told the BBC that it "regrets" the mistake.
The money was from the Less Favoured Area Compensatory Allowance Scheme, part of the Northern Ireland Rural Development Programme (NIRDP) 2014 - 2020, which support farmers in tough working conditions.
11,494 farms received money, and most of the payments were as low as £50. But a small minority of farmers received £10,000. In one instance, a farmer received £70,000.
The blame was put squarely on an IT system which couldn't retrieve the money back, and the department was under-staffed to do this manually.
The department has concluded that it would cost £5million to get the overpayments back, and the whole process would not be "cost effective" to do so. Some farmers could have started legal challenges, the department said.
DAERA has said that new procedures means it "won't happen again".
