ANC won’t be paid in full later this month

AGRICULTURE Minister, Michael Creed has been accused of ‘giving with one hand and taking with the other’ after it emerged that for the first time ever, the full ANC (Areas of Natural Constraint) payment will not be paid later this month.

The Minister confirmed last week that only 85% of the ANC will be paid out in mid-September – this, said Minister Creed, was ‘on foot of changes to EU regulations’. The balance of 15% would be paid out in early December, he said.

Galway IFA County Chairperson Anne Mitchell has called on the Minister to reconsider the splitting of the ANC payment this year which would result in €35 million now not getting to farmers until December.

“The Minister is hiding behind EU regulations. He could pay 100% to farmers and resolve any issues with the EU Commission afterwards,”she said.

She added that the holding-back of the ANC money would be a serious blow to 100,000 farmers who had expected a full payment next month.

“Given the serious income crisis on livestock farms, I cannot understand why the Minister would make this decision,” she said.

“The Minister has reneged on a commitment that he made at the IFA AGM last January that the ANC money would be paid out in full in September,” she said.

She said that the IFA acknowledged the decision of the European Commission to sanction the higher advance of 70% under the 2019 Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) and a number of Rural Development Schemes.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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