Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)

In fairness to the departmental officials, they are taking a very helpful approach to the processing of payments and they cannot simply wish away the rules coming from the European Union. These rules are fairly clear although they sound complex when read into the record of the House but when broken down they are relatively easy to follow. We are still awaiting documentation from many of the growers. Once this documentation is received, we will proceed the claims as fast as possible. The officials have been fairly helpful. In some cases they have paid return visits to growers. We do not need every last piece of paper in triplicate before we process the claims but the Department has taken a fairly common-sense approach.

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