Leeway needed in SPS debut

IT’S a measure of the crucial nature of the Single Payment Scheme that civil servants will stay on duty at the Department of Agriculture offices in Portlaoise right up to the deadline for landowners to apply to participate in the scheme.

They’ll work until midnight on Monday, May 16, and will also stay on the job over the next two weekends, from 9.15am to 5.30pm at Portlaoise, from where the new scheme is being administered, and in local county offices.

But that’s the only concession.