Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I previously stated on the record of the House that I very much regret the delay in these payments. Whether it is in Wexford, Meath or any other part of the country, I do not find it satisfactory. However, I would say the officials in this area of my Department, both IT and administrative, are working without constraint in terms of overtime and so on to try to resolve the matter.

By way of information, approximately 2,000 cases are failing a prepayment validation check for one or more of the claimed GLAS actions. A further 2,500 cases have issues with the consistency of the parcel data on the Department's databases. The remaining cases relate to cases that have outstanding errors with the annual basic payment scheme application. In total, there are approximately 5,000 left to pay. While we cannot quantify it yet, it is anticipated that a sizeable number of those will not qualify because they never activated their applications after submitting them. However, we are working to try to ensure that those in County Wexford and elsewhere get payment. I will not rest until all of those are paid.

I appreciate that it is not in compliance with the farmers charter and that is something we are not happy about. Although this is cold comfort to anybody waiting, we have rolled out more schemes under the rural development programme than any other EU member state and our drawdown of funds is well ahead of any other member state. Nonetheless, I accept this is unsatisfactory.

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