Updated: Saturday, 23rd February, 2008 12:00am

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Minister must resolve delay in payments

MEATH County Chairman Eddie Downey has called on the Minister for Agriculture Mary Coughlan to resolve the REPS payment delays to farmers in County Meath.

The Minister must press that the current early payment of REPS, which has been part of the scheme to cover the cost of compliance, remains in place at each anniversary date.

Mr Downey said that 32 per cent of farmers are in REPS and payments are worth s7.5 million to the county.

“Any delays in REPS payments to the 1,198 farmers in the scheme will have a very negative effect on cash flow on farms and will impact severely on farm incomes particularly in the dry stock sector,” he said.

Mr Downey said it was up to Minister Coughlan to resolve this problem as the early payment system of REPS has been a feature of the scheme and has contributed to its success in improving the environment.

Meanwhile in other IFA news, President Padraig Walshe has lambasted county councils for seeking to carry out a large number of farm inspections, which are already being carried out by Department of Agriculture officials.

He said: “This new wave of additional bureaucracy is excessive, a waste of taxpayers` money and will provide absolutely no benefit to society.

“County councillors must stand united with farmers and ensure that the money proposed for these farm inspections, which will also be carried out by department officials, is instead diverted to lower water charges and upgrading of regional roads.

“In the nitrate regulation discussions, IFA had argued that the Department of Agriculture was the competent authority for farm inspections and this was accepted in Article 27 of the regulation.

“At no time in these discussions did IFA ever accept county councils building up a farm inspection squad to compete with the Department of Agriculture Inspectorate.

“IFA county executives will meet with every county council in the country during February on this issue.”