| IFA President John Bryan has demanded strong action on the payment delays to farmers and called on the Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smith to remove the mapping bottleneck that is holding back over €100m in Single Farm Payment and Disadvantage Area payments. He said up to 40,000 farmers have had payment either partially or fully held up because of the mapping mess in the Department. John Bryan said it is the Minister’s responsibility to ensure that his Department make the payments on time to farmers and the delays must be addressed urgently. The IFA President said 106,000 farmers have received an advance Single Farm Payment at this stage and 87,000 have received €165m in Disadvantage Area payments. John Bryan called on the Minister to instruct his Department to return all files immediately, which are still out despite the fact that inspections have been completed on these farms. He said, “It is totally unacceptable that inspections are holding up payments.” The IFA President said Minister Smith must prioritise the resolution to the mapping debacle and allocate the necessary resources in order that all farmers are paid without any further delay. |
Thursday, 21 October 2010 10:09