The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) has called for outstanding ‘delays’ to be resolved under the Basic Payments Scheme (BPS) and Areas of Natural Constraints (ANC) scheme.
The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) has argued that some of the issues preventing payments could have been resolved before the payment date.
Richard Kennedy, the association’s deputy president, urged the minister to “resolve outstanding BPS and ANC payment problems”.
It would appear that some farmers have had payments held up because of mapping issues. Many of these should have been resolved well in advance of the payment date.
“While there has been significant payout of ANC scheme payments to some 80,000 farmers, and BPS to 115,000 farmers, for those farmers waiting payment, there is significant financial pressure,” Kennedy argued.
“It is disappointing that mechanisms were not put in place to avoid delays…we cannot have a repeat of this in the future,” Kennedy insisted.
Elections
In other IFA-related news, the series of debates that will lead up to November’s election of a new president is well underway, with the most recent taking place in Ballincollig, Co. Cork.
The recent beef protests were a hot topic during the debate last night, Thursday, October 24, between presidential candidates Tim Cullinan, Angus Woods and John Coughlan.
Current IFA national treasurer Cullinan argued: “When there is a crisis – in any sector – we all have to pull together.”
National livestock chairman Woods noted that that it was “a risky time of the year for a farmer protest”, and warned against taking the “populist decision”.
Meanwhile, Munster regional chairperson John Coughlan pointed out: “Income is the real issue on all livestock farms and I think our only hope going forward is that there will be other streams of income available to farmers.”