The Department for Agriculture is urging all farmers who have completed their approved TAMS II investments to submit their claim for payments to the online system immediately to allow for payment to issue.
To date, figures from the Department show that 413 payment claims have been received and 76 payment claims have been approved for payment or paid.
The online payment claim system has been open for the submission of payment claims since July 2016 and a spokesperson for the Department said that payment claims are being processed on an ongoing basis.
“However, it also said that a significant number of payment claims have minor issues that need to be resolved before payment can be made.
“Department Officials are in direct contact with individual applicants to progress claims towards early payment,” the spokesperson said.
The most popular measures under the scheme are the Animal Welfare and Nutrient Storage Scheme, the Dairy Equipment Scheme and the Young Farmers Capital Investment Scheme.
Earlier this year, Aidan O’Driscoll, Secretary General at the Department said that future approvals under TAMS II could be at risk of being blocked unless farmers start submitting their claims online.
O’Driscoll said that a colleague of his in the Department arranged for farmers who have not submitted claims to be texted to ask are they going ahead with their investment.
“I think of those that received the message about half of them replied and half of those said they were going ahead.”
O’Driscoll has said that there is a problem here; the Department issues all of these approvals and then it’s ‘debt’ or outstanding money commitment mounts and mounts into tens of millions.
“This is not something that can be done indefinitely, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform will not allow it.”