Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have explained why there is a delay. The Deputy has been a Minister and he has a pretty good understanding of how the schemes work. There is an application process after which the applications are validated and a series of checks are required before payments can issue. This is because a significant portion of the payments come through the European Commission. We simply cannot pay when we want to; we must pay when we get approval to do so. We pay as soon as we can, which is why payments are issuing at present. I expect the balancing payment to be made in the latter half of the year but I will come back to the Deputy with firm information.

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