Logjam of payments needs to be cleared

THE Government must ‘pull out all the stops’ to clear all payment backlogs over the coming weeks and at worst by the end of the year, according to Galway IFA’s Environmental representative.

Bertie Roche told the Farming Tribune that it simply ‘wasn’t good enough’ for payments to be held up, often because of relatively minor administrative issues.

“It really has been a tough year across the farming sector with many farmers encountering serious cashflow difficulties.

“Only recently have milk prices started to pick up; cattle prices are well back on last year; while it was an exceptionally bad harvest for the grain farmers.

“Bills are building up for farmers and if there’s a hold-up in their payments, it will really be the last straw for many of them. The payments are very badly needed this year,” said Bertie Roche.

Last week, Fianna Fáil Agriculture Spokesperson Charlie McConalogue claimed that there was a massive €377 million ‘underspend’ in relation to GLAS payments over the past two years.

He said that in 2015, only €11.5m was spent on GLAS and that overall the scheme was falling far behind as regards its budget spend.

“Fine Gael announced this scheme to much fanfare back in 2015, committing to an annual allocation of €250m, when fully subscribed.

“Despite this commitment, a mere €11.5m was spent in 2015 and only €142m has been earmarked for next year. Take-up has been sluggish, with 38,000 out of a projected 50,000 farmers taking part.

“Even in a best-case scenario, if 50,000 farmers sign up to GLAS for 2017, with an average yearly payment of €4,600, there will still be an annual underspend of €20m,” said Deputy McConalogue.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.