Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

All of us are conscious that payment can only be issued where all required validation checks have been successfully passed. To my mind, that is 100% of the payment. The issue here is that these farmers are waiting for the first tranche, namely, that 85%. Neither the farmers nor I can understand why they cannot receive that money. If there is an issue with checks, that can then be dealt with in on the remaining 15%. There is no need to hold up these farmers' money in these circumstances. While I understand that the Department has a job to do and that we are under EU scrutiny and have all these hurdles to jump, ultimately, it is the farmers' money. They entered into a contract with the Government to get it. Under the latter, a period was set for them to receive their money and the Government is in breach of that provision.

I appeal to the Minister of State to not just tell us that the Department must carry out more checks and validation, that each one must be checked and that farmers must come back with more information. In the vast majority of cases, the farmer has nothing further to do. All that seems to happen is that a check is run through the Department and that when the latter has time to do so, it pays the money. Pay the money now and do the checks later. In the odd case where there may be an issue, it can be taken out of the 15%. The reality is that the Department holds all the cards when it comes to this situation because it has all the other schemes it holds on to as well and there can be cross-compliance with all of them. There is no reason the GLAS money cannot be paid immediately, particularly as farmers need it. The Minister of State is a farmer and he is aware of the circumstances in which many in the farming community find themselves. They are in debt. If they are in debt, pressure is being put on them and the Department is holding up their money, the Government needs to act now to pay that money to the farmers.

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