More than €33 million paid out to farmers as REPS 4 payments begin

PAYMENTS under REPS 4 have commenced, Agriculture Minister Brendan Smith has announced, with over €33 million being issued to farmers in the last week.

He said these represent the first of the two phasing arrangements under which REPS 4 payments are made under European Union regulations. The regulations allow 75% of payments to be released once all detailed administrative checks on all applications, including plan checks, are completed.

Mr Smith said the processing of REPS 4 claims is an enormous and complex task. All applications received this year, as well as those received in 2007 and 2008, have to be subjected to detailed administrative checks before any payments could issue.