Delayed Payments Causing Hardship on Up to 25,000 Farmers
Speaking at a protest at the Department of Agriculture offices in Johnstown Castle in Wexford this morning (Mon), IFA President John Bryan said that the delays arising from the digitising of maps and other issues are causing financial hardship for 25,000 farmers in Disadvantaged Areas, who have still not received payment.
John Bryan said that the administrative mess around AEOS was now spilling over and causing delays with Disadvantaged Areas payments, and threatening the SFP advance due on October 17th.
He said, “It is important that the full €220m is paid out to 100,000 farmers over the next few weeks. It is totally unacceptable that digitisation for AEOS has clogged up the system and is causing delays, particularly as farmers applied for this scheme as far back as May 2010.”
The IFA President also pointed out that with the 17th October deadline looming for the first 50% advance of the Single Farm Payment, it was vital that all farmers are cleared for payment without delay.
IFA National Rural Development Chairman Tom Turley has expressed dissatisfaction that there are still a significant number of outstanding REPS 4 (25% payment) and AEOS (part payment still due from 2010) payments which have been made. He said farmers are not going to tolerate a repeat of last year’s payments debacle and are demanding an urgent response from the Department.