Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Michael Creed, to the House and note my appreciation that he has attended to hear this Commencement debate. It is an issue on which he has probably received many representations and which he is dealing with as well as possible within the Department. It relates to two very important schemes, in particular for smaller farmers. These are GLAS and AEOS. Payments under the schemes have been delayed this year. I understand there are complications in terms of processing the applications but as of 2 February last week, the situation as set out in a reply the Minister delivered in the Dáil was that 24% of all GLAS payments remained outstanding. Of the 37,492 applications made, 8,967 had not resulted in payments. That comprised GLAS 1 and GLAS 2 applications. On the other environmental scheme, the agri-environment options scheme, 30% of applications for payment remained outstanding. According to the figures the Minister released last week, 2,625 payments remained outstanding out of a total application set of 8,640.

There is concern among farming organisations and in particular among small farmers themselves about this. I appreciate that a lot of applications have been processed and paid. It is understandable that there will be delays in processing payments every year. In that context, I understand that there are new computerised systems within the Department. However, can the Minister put a system in place whereby these applications can be processed more speedily? I met with farmers last weekend who have not received these payments and whose feed bills at this time of year are increasing. They are under financial pressure. Is there a way to release the payments sooner? Perhaps the Minister will update the House in relation to the current state of payments and state whether any additional staff have been sanctioned to allow the relevant section of the Department to process these payments more promptly.