Over 94% of GLAS applicants have now been paid, according to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
An additional 354 applicants were paid a total of €1.25m in the most recent payment run; this equated to an average payment of approximately €3,530 each.
The latest payment run has brought the total number of applicants who have received a payment under the scheme to 34,524, the department confirmed.
#GLAS I&II latest payment run sees a further €1,24 million issue to 354 farmers, check your agfood.ie a/c for further details
— Dept Agriculture IRL (@agriculture_ie) May 27, 2017
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Meanwhile, department officials are currently reviewing the cases of 1,100 applicants; every effort is being made to advance these cases as quickly as possible, the department added.
In addition to these 1,100 cases, further documentation has been requested from just over 1,000 applicants before their cases can be considered further.
These applicants have been notified of the documentation which is required and it is now a matter for these applicants to submit the required information if they wish to proceed, according to the department.
Farmers critical of department’s scheme administration
Last week, the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) described the department’s administration of some recent farm schemes as ‘totally unacceptable’.
In order to ensure that the situation is brought under control, as a matter of urgency, the IFA has demanded an immediate meeting with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed.
The GLAS payments controversy, difficulties with TAMS payments and the issues surrounding the administration of the Knowledge Transfer Scheme are evidence of “serious problems within certain areas of the department”, the President of the IFA, Joe Healy, said.
There have been lots of excuses about IT systems, but the department is not run by computers.
“Farmers are extremely angry and frustrated over the ongoing delays and slow responses when they try to contact the department, to find out why they have not been paid.
“There is no appreciation of the impact these long payment delays are having on cash-flow in farm households. Some farmers who expected a GLAS payment last October are still waiting, seven months later,” Healy said.