Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am sure the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine is not saying some payments cannot be made because of some technical hitch. There must be a reason for this. The money is in place and the applications have come in. Do they conform with the requirements for release of the money? These payments have been made in the vast majority of cases and I am quite sure the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine and his staff are working very hard to see that the remaining payments are made. They were put in place in the first place in order that the farmers could apply for and draw down assistance from the State, which was very hard-won in the first instance. We want that to be able to continue to guarantee incomes. That is why in the budget the Minister for Finance introduced the position that when there are exceptional years, such as that seen by tillage farmers in 2016, a gap year would be allowed for recovery. The farmers were not able to get crops from the fields in the first place.

See this speech in context