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The Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association
(ICMSA) has sharply criticised delays in Rural Environment
Protection Scheme (REPS) payments to farmers.
ICMSA
Deputy president John Comer said fury was rising over the
number of REPS 4 applicants still awaiting payment and 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 added - urging
Mr Smith to establish a Charter Committee to resolve the outstanding
issues and ensure similar delays did not occur in 2010.
Minister Smith, in a written reply to a Dáil
question by Fine Gael’s Michael Creed, 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.
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