Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is a massive logistical challenge in the first year of a CAP. All the schemes are new, the IT system is new, it is a challenge for farmers getting up and running on it and it is also a massive logistical and organisational challenge for the Department to open all the new schemes, have them running and to get the payments done. Once we get the first year over and we are into the second or third year, we will have a bit more scope to operate. It is much more difficult in the first year. That is why there has been some adjustment to the payment dates this year. It is the best we can do. We have squeezed it, pulled it and looked to do everything we could within the Department to make sure everything is done in the tightest timeframe possible. We will be one of the few member states, if not the only member state, that will deliver all these payments this year. In most other countries that are introducing a CAP programme this year, it will be next year before a lot of their payments are made. We want to deliver them all this year but it does mean that some of the payments will be a couple of weeks later than they would have been in previous years. That is the best possible timeframe we can deliver on. We have taken that decision early so we can communicate to farmers and they can prepare and know what to expect as the year goes on.

See this speech in context