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

It has been the objective of anybody who has been in my position that these payments operate as efficiently as possible. By international comparison we do quite well in terms of how efficiently we pay people. We had an issue with GLAS. We have substantially worked that through, and 98% of people have now been paid. There is a cohort of 2% which has outstanding issues that are delaying payment. All the IT issues have been addressed, and we are awaiting information from farmers in those cases.

There is one issue I would like to flag, which is farmers who have not submitted their nutrient management plans. If the nutrient management plan is not submitted the farmers cannot get the balancing payment that is due. There are over 6,500 farmers who have not yet, under GLAS, submitted nutrient management plans. That is delaying the balancing payment and it will also delay the next round of GLAS payments for them. I would ask the Deputy to use his good offices to bring that particular issue to the attention of Teagasc, private advisers and indeed farmers. That might well be the issue that is delaying payments, because not alone is it holding up the balancing payment but it is also holding up the next round of payments.

See this speech in context