Paul Lawless (Mayo, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

The frustration that farmers across Ireland and I have is that at no stage in late 2023 or 2024 did the Department show leadership and tell farmers that there was an issue on the Department's side and the Department was working to fix it. Farmers were given the run around, and I was given the run around while trying to represent farmers in Mayo. It was completely unacceptable. Farmers across the country felt they were at fault and were trying to understand what the issue was. In some cases, they asked me whether they had failed an inspection or whether there had been an overpayment. All along, for more than a year, the Department knew the problem was on its end. Why did the Department not come out, tell farmers about the issue, show leadership and tell them it was working hard to solve the issue?