John O'Mahony (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this important issue for the Adjournment debate. What started out as a trickle some weeks ago is beginning to develop into a flood. Farmers have begun to contact my clinics and, I am sure, the constituency clinics of many other Deputies during recent days.

REPS, rural environmental protection scheme, 4 payments and all other REPS payments have always been paid out in November or during the first week in December at the latest. Following contact with Department officials yesterday, I have further cause for concern. They indicated these payments were being processed but that they would not put up for payment.

We are within one week of Christmas. It is no reflection on the Minister of State, Deputy Trevor Sargent, but I am disappointed that the Minister, Deputy Brendan Smith, is not here to answer these questions. I trust the reply that will be given presently will clarify the situation. Those affected are from the farming community that has been decimated as a result of the recent mini budgets and major budgets and all the various cutbacks in payments.

I am not referring to money that will go to bank accounts. It goes towards the repayment of bank loans but it will not be used as savings. It will go straight back into the economy. This affects the farmers that have had farm waste management payments delayed for three years. Many will go to the banks to make repayments with these payments. Many have had child welfare supplements cut or have experienced delays in third level grant payments. The same people are involved in many of these cases. Within a few days of Christmas these people have been told they may not receive their REPS 4 payments. The REPS 4 was withdrawn overnight last May and this has excluded thousands of farmers. It is an important issue in my constituency, Mayo, which has the highest number of REPS farmers in the country.

It is vital that this issue be resolved. In the farming community, incomes have dropped by 28% in 2009, on top of a 13% drop the previous year. This is untenable. These are the farmers who see services being cut in the constituency. Last week, the Teagasc office in Castlebar was closed down and the same thing happened earlier in the year in Crossmolina. The agricultural offices in Claremorris and Ballina are to be centralised. There is a disconnect.

I hope the Minister of State has good news for these farmers and that the money will be paid. There is a window of Monday and Tuesday next week after which it will be too late. I ask the Minister of State to confirm that these payments will be made in the next few days.

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