Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I know we have discussed this issue in the Chamber on several occasions. What has happened is absolutely unacceptable. The Minister indicated in his response to Deputy Cassells that the Department expected that when those responsible pressed the "pay" button in December everyone would be paid and that the Department had the money allocated for that. However, it turned out differently. That is not acceptable. Surely with proper preparation these issues could have been highlighted in advance.

I know the Minister has said today that he does not want to give a date for the outstanding payments since he may not be able to stand over it. However, those who have not been paid yet were given a date that the Minister has been unable to stand over, that is to say, last December.

Recently, I was in a field with bird cover. The farmer had completed the action. It is working well in terms of wild birds coming to use it. However, the farmer has not yet been paid for the work done. Many farmers were expecting the payment last December. Now they face a wait until the summer.

There needs to be a major review in the Department of how this came about. Politically, we need to know how the problem was not spotted in advance and why the proper resources and preparations were not put in place to deal with it.

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