Minister Smith announces timely payment of €45m REPS 4

FARMERS are to receive a timely €45m REPS 4 payment, the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Brendan Smith announced yesterday.

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

Mr Smith also announced that the second phase of the REPS 4 payments for 2010, the 25%, will commence shortly.

Mr Smith said there were also 24,000 farmers still in REPS 3 who had been paid or would receive payments this year.

“These payments have been continuously going out since January,” he said, “and as of today we have already paid out €265 million this year. These payments, too, will continue to issue right up to the last day of the year.”