Dairy group criticises delays in paying REPS to struggling farmers

THE Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association has sharply criticised delays in Rural Environment Protection Scheme payments to farmers.

Deputy president John Comer said fury was rising over the number of REPS 4 applicants still awaiting payment.

He called on Agriculture Minister Brendan Smith to ensure the payments are made without delay.

Mr Comer said the number of applicants paid in some counties to-date is as low as 20% – a pathetic figure, he said, given assurances by department officials that REPS 4 payments would not be subject to the same delays as the previous year.

“The anxiety of farmers cannot be overstated and many are under severe pressure from their banks to let them know when REPS 4 payments will be received,” he said.

Mr Comer said many of the farmers awaiting payment of REPS 4 had already been subjected to a phased payment on the Farm Waste Management Scheme. They are now in severe financial difficulty.

The schedule for REPS payments is now well outside that laid down in the Farmers Charter, he said, urging Mr Smith to establish a Charter Committee to resolve the outstanding issues and ensure similar delays did not occur in 2010.

Mr Smith, in a written reply to a Dáil question by Fine Gael’s Michael Creed, TD, said REPS 4 is a measure under the current rural development programme 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,” he said.