Payments for 2013 under AEOS1, AEOS 2 and REPS 4 have commenced this week.

According to an update from Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney this morning  some €50m will issue to AEOS and REPS participants in the next week.

 “These payments represent the initial 75 per cent payment that my department is allowed to release following the completion of detailed administrative checks. In accordance with EU regulations these checks must be completed on all applications before any payments can issue,” the minister noted.

Minister Coveney said he was pleased that his department has reached this level of payment earlier than last year with greater numbers being paid their first instalment.

Payments will continue on a weekly basis until all cases are cleared.

The total expenditure on the REPS and AEOS schemes in 2013 will be in the region of €200m.

Payments under the 2013 disadvantaged areas scheme (DAS) and single farm payment (SFP) schemes commenced on 25 September and 16 October respectively. To date payments worth in excess of €600m have issued in respect of nearly 119,000 SFP applicants with payments worth in excess of €186m issuing to some 88,000 applicants under the DAS.

According to the department in an update this morning, these figures compare favourably with the 2012 payment figures at the same time last year.

Balancing payments under the SFP will commence on 1 December, while payments are continuing to issue under both schemes as individual cases are confirmed eligible.