Over 1,300 still waiting for payments

DELAYS in issuing basic payments to farmers who have been ‘randomly’ chosen for site inspections is deeply unfair as they have to wait months for the vital payments, according to one Kerry politician this week.

Independent TD Michael Healy Rae raised the issue in the Dáil last week where he urged Agriculture Minister Michael Creed to redress what he described as a very unfair issue for the farmers affected.

Over 1,300 farmers in the country are still waiting on basic payments it emerged.

Michael Healy Rae asked the Minister “when farmers are chosen at random for inspection they should not have to wait months for their payment, most farmers were issued their ANC in Sept and BPS in October and some who are inspected are still waiting payments to date “

In his reply Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed stated that ANC payments have issued to more than 3,500 farmers so far:

“Of the 6,500 cases selected for a remote sensing (satellite) inspection across the various area-based schemes, payment of the first instalment of the BPS has issued to 5,176 applicants to date.”

“Payments under Areas of Natural Constraints Scheme (ANC) have issued to 3,582 applicants to date.

“The balancing payment under BPS will commence issuing this Thursday 1st December and additional completed remote sensing inspection cases will have their full payment under BPS processed as part of this payment process,” the Minister said.

Reviewing satellite data requires comprehensive scrutiny and correlation with the applications received, he said.

“In the case of remote sensing inspections, a comprehensive review of the satellite imagery received at various stages during the year must be undertaken to ensure that the actual claimed area in the application form corresponds to the area farmed by the applicant and that the different crop types are as claimed, and that ineligible land or features are not included for payment purposes,” Minister Creed explained.

Under the regulations, it is necessary to make a ‘field’ visit in the flesh if it is not possible to make an accurate finding while studying the satellite imagery.

“The governing regulations further prescribe that where it is not possible to make an accurate determination on the eligibility of a parcel or parcels of land by means of an assessment of the available imagery, a field visit must be undertaken to verify the position on the ground,” Minister Creed told the Dáil.

Deputy Healy Rae said that it was deeply unfair on those farmers chosen for inspection that they would have to wait longer for payments vital to their business.

He said the inspections should be finalised by the October payment date in the interests of fairness.

“When a farmer is chosen for an inspection it is not fair that they have to wait for payment so it should be finalised by the payment date in October along with every other farmers payment especially when the application is submitted in May,” Deputy Healy Rae said.