The Irish Natura and Hill Farmers' Association (INHFA) has joined with other farm organisations in sharply criticising delays to scheme payments to farmers.

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine announced yesterday (Tuesday, October 13) that scheme payments due at the end of this week would be held up until October 27 due the public sector strike taking place today (Wednesday, October 14).

Advance payments under the Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) and Complimentary Redistributive Income Support for Sustainability (CRISS) were due to commence from Friday of this week (October 16).

INHFA president Pheilim Molloy said the delay is "totally unacceptable and comes as a major shock to all farmers that have already planned for these payments and will create major cash flow difficulties".

"For farmers, the BISS and CRISS payments are eagerly anticipated and often used to pay agri-contractors, feed merchants and co-ops, [and] repayments of loans, so the very late announcement of this delay will add to stress levels that are already very high," Molloy added.

He raised the possibility that farmers may be penalised with a negative credit rating when loans "potentially default through no fault of the farmer when monies have not been paid".

"It is vital that the minister [for agriculture, Martin Heydon] and government understand that this hold-up of payments is on them and they need to find a way to get this resolved and ensure farmers are not left waiting," Molloy said.

The INHFA president went on to say that the work-to-rule policy adopted by public sector unions is "quite concerning, especially where issues arise that delay farm payments".

"This could create massive problems and delays for those farmers impacted. On this, we need to recognise that in most cases the issues that hold up payments is often a very small issue such as the digitalisation of a land parcel," Molloy said.

"So with this in mind, I am calling on the minister to ensure additional staff, if required, are brought in to ensure any issues are resolved and payments are made," he added.

The farm leader also expressed concerns over the impact of industrial action by civil servants on meat processing.

"At a time of year where there is a high supply of cattle and sheep for slaughter, it is vital that meat processors can operate to their maximum capacity, because if they don’t, it's farmers that could pay the price down the road," he said.

Molloy called for the government and public sector unions to "sit down and find a resolution that ends industrial action and brings certainty and stability to all sectors of the economy".