Good Start on Sfp Payout Must Continue – IFA
IFA President John Bryan said the Single Farm Payment (SFP) advance to almost 100,000 farmers this week, worth €476m, is a good start. He said all outstanding payments to around 20,000 farmers must be cleared and paid without undue delay.
John Bryan said the Single Farm Payment and Disadvantaged Area payments are vital components of farm income, and farm families cannot be left without their payments for any length of time.
He said all the inspection and processing problems must be resolved by December 1<sup>st</sup> so the Department can complete a full run of payments with the balance of the SFP. “Any outstanding digitised mapping problems must be resolved immediately so that no individual payments are held up.”  He said it was unacceptable that cases selected for inspection were being delayed.
On REPS4 + AEOS1, John Bryan again expressed concern about delays in making payment for last years’ scheme. “It is vitally important that these payments are now made. The Department must then move to pay 30,000 REPS 4 payments and AEOS 2 payments due for this year.”
The IFA President said the progress on the Disadvantaged Areas must be speeded up. With over 80% of farmers now paid, all payments to 100,000 farmers must be completed over the next number of weeks.