Fine Gael TD, for Limerick has welcomed €23,899,685 in funding which has been paid to 4,472 of farmers in Limerick as part of advanced payments under the 2013 Single Payments Scheme, as approved by the Minister for Agriculture, Simon Coveney TD.
“A total of €540 million is being paid to 108,000 farmers across the country, as part of the Single Payments Scheme. I am very pleased that Minister Coveney has secured approval to make these payments six weeks ahead of schedule. This will come as a source of relief to the 4,472 farmers in Limerick which are sharing in a total of €23,899,685 in payments.
“The Single Payments Scheme is a very important source of income for the Irish agricultural community, and this latest series of payments follow the €169 million which has been paid out to over 80,000 farmers under the Disadvantaged Areas Scheme, which began issuing three weeks ago.
“Minister Coveney was very conscious of the fact that farmers were suffering cash flow shortages due to the challenges posed by adverse weather conditions earlier this year, and with this in mind he approached the EU Agriculture Commissioner to seek approval for early payments. Thanks to the Minister’s representations, payments are being made six weeks earlier than scheduled.
“Payments will be issued twice weekly up until 30th November, with balancing payments to issue as and from the 1st December. It is important that any farmer who has received correspondence from the Department of Agriculture highlighting problems in relation to their application responds without delay. This will ensure these cases can be processed and payments issued as soon as possible.
“The Minister has assured farmers that payments will continue to issue under both schemes, on an ongoing basis, as individual cases are cleared. I urge all farmers in County Limerick to engage fully with the process to ensure they can receive their payments without delay.”