Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 29 April 2010
58 Deputy Emmet Stagg asked the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food his plans to ensure that all farmers receive their 2010 REP scheme payment by the end of October 2010; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16923/10]
View answerOut of 29,376 farmers due payments in REPS 4, 100% payments have issued to over 21,000 as of 23rd April 2010, with a further 1,342 payments issuing this week.
To meet the requirements of EU regulations, applications for REPS payments have to go through an exhaustive series of administrative checks before payment can be released. In a significant number of cases, those checks raised issues and queries, which required further detailed examination. The Department's staffs are working to resolve these as quickly as possible. Many of these cases require the applicants' planners to amend the farm plans that were submitted originally. The applicants concerned have been made aware of the position and the applications will be further processed without delay on receipt of amended plans. Insofar as payments in respect of 2010 are concerned, my objective is to process the claims arising as soon as the existing issues and queries are resolved and to ensure that the 2010 payments are made as soon as possible.
59 Deputy Ciarán Lynch asked the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will give an assurance that farmers who apply for the agricultural environmental options scheme before 17 May 2010 will receive payment from a start up date of 1 June 2010; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16906/10]
View answerSubject to the need to carry out adequate administrative checks to meet regulatory and audit requirements, it is my intention to ensure that participants in the new Agri-Environment Options Scheme can start their contracts at the earliest possible date.
