Farmers can’t wait any longer and need their GLAS payments now, ICSA Rural Development Chairman, Seamus Sherlock, has said.
Speaking at a protest today outside of the Department of Agriculture, Johnstown Castle, Co Wexford he said that there’s a lot of anger on the ground around the delays in payments.
“Farmers had to have all their documents for the scheme in by a certain date. Payments were to issue two months ago. They can’t wait any longer, there’s too much anger on the ground.
“In the region of 9,000 farmers have to be paid yet. We’re organising this protest to highlight the anger that’s out there. It cost farmers money to get in to this scheme.”
“There’s a lot of farmers struggling out there at the moment and I heard some horror stories in the run up to Christmas.
“What we’re hoping is that the remaining 85% of payments issue and that the Department settles the remaining payments in the coming weeks.
“ICSA has decided to take this stand to show solidarity with farmers who have been waiting patiently for payment and suffering the consequences of doing without.”
In a statement last week, the Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed said he was satisfied that every effort possible is being made to complete this process as quickly as possible.
Furthermore, in order to ensure outstanding payments are issued without delay, the Department has said all resources from an IT and administrative perspective are being directed towards resolving the outstanding issues.
All GLAS applications must pass regulatory controls and validations, as is the case with all EU co-funded schemes.
The Department also said that it is not possible to provide a definitive time-frame for the completion of payments due to the individual nature of the outstanding issues, however every effort is being made to process all payments as quickly as possible.