Smith urges farmers to set up accounts for EU money

A SIZEABLE number of farmers have not yet set up the bank accounts into which all the EU now requires all payments to be electronically transferred.

The vast majority of farmers have, but Agriculture Minister Brendan Smith has urged those remaining to submit the necessary details to his department without further delay. “If the required details are not submitted, no payment can issue to the applicants involved,” he said last week as he announced the €532 million commencement of 2008 single payments to 90% of applicants.

They are being made six weeks earlier than normal, on the grounds of farmers’ weather difficulties this year.