IFA Rural Development Chairman Seamus Traynor has described the delays in
the payout of REPS and AEOS to 25,000 farmers as unacceptable and he called
on the Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smith to intervene with his
Department to speed up payments.

Mr. Traynor said that only 50% of REPS 4 farmers have been paid so far and
none of the 9,000 AEOS farmers have received any payment yet for the number
of months they were in the scheme in 2010.

IFA estimate that up to €100m is due to farmers to meet the environmental
costs associated with the REPS/AEOS Plans and the payment delays are causing
severe financial hardship in many cases.

Meanwhile, Mr. Traynor has also called on the Minister for Agriculture to
indicate a startup date for this year’s AEOS.  Following the December
Budget, 10,000 places are available in this year’s scheme and an early start
up date for applications is vital.

“Farmers must be given sufficient time to assess the scheme so that they can
find the best environmental options for their farm and to maximize payment”,
he said.

Concluding, Mr. Traynor said that €337m is available in 2011 for the
REPS/AEOS schemes and it is vital that all payments due are now made and
AEOS is opened immediately.