More than half REPS 4 participants still awaiting 2009 payments

MORE than half the participants in the REPS 4 scheme are desperately awaiting 2009 payments three weeks into 2010.

Fine Gael spokesman Michael Creed made the observation after receiving a written reply from Agriculture Minister Brendan Smith to a Dáil question.

Mr Creed said the fact that 15,738 out of the 28,828 participants in the scheme are still awaiting payment for 2009 was exacerbating an already critical cashflow situation at the farmgate.

The past 12 months have been a turbulent time for farmers, with the average farm income collapsing by 30%. This situation has not been helped by the failure of the Government which has continuously cut farmgate schemes in successive budgets.

“Minister Smith must now take personal responsibility to ensure the outstanding payments are issued as swiftly as possible. Many farmers are struggling to get information from the department on why their payment has been delayed,” he said.

In his written reply, Mr Smith said REPS 4 is a measure under the current Rural Development Programme 2007–13 and is subject to European Union Regulations. These require detailed administrative checks on all applications to be completed before the first payments issue.

He said payments to REPS 4 participants, amounting to just under €100 million, issued in 2009 to those whose applications required no further examination following the administrative checks.

“However, queries arose on a significant number of applications in the course of the administrative checks and these are under examination as a matter of priority. Further payments will continue to be made as applications are cleared,” he said.