REPS 4 payments must be issued – Ó Domhnaill

Fianna Fáil Senator Brian Ó Domhnaill has called on the Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney TD to immediately issue the final 25% payments for the REPS 4 Scheme.

Senator Ó Domhnaill said, “The 25% payment represents the second of the two phasing arrangements under which REPS 4 payments are made. EU Regulations allow 75% of payments to be released once the detailed administrative checks on all applications, including plan checks, are completed. The initial 75% payment issued in December 2010 following checks on approximately 30,000 files.

“Farmers have many bills to pay at present and I am today calling on the Minister for Agriculture to immediately issue the remaining 25% or over €10 million to participants of the scheme.

“It’s simply unacceptable that the Department is delaying payments owed to farmers without any reasonable explanation.”