The Irish Farmers Journal has been receiving calls from farmers irate with the Department because they are still waiting to be paid for GLAS I and GLAS II.

One such farmer is "Jim". He does not want his identity or location made known in fear that he might be the subject of an inspection by the Department.

The Irish Farmers Journal has verified his stoy as real and accurate.

His words sum up the feelings of many of the 9,200 farmers who are yet to receive their GLAS payment.

This was his letter to the Irish Farmers Journal this week.

“I have been in contact with Johnstown Castle since 2 December 2016.

“I was told that everything was OK and that I will be paid end at the end of December.

“After numerous calls and emails, I was told this Tuesday that there is an IT problem and me along with 10,000 more will be paid sometime in the future

“A joke.

“I can’t spread slurry until contractor is paid for balìng silage last year. GLAS is two years in existence and still IT problems. They're a disaster.

“Jim.”

Department response

A spokesperson for the Department of Agriculture provided the following statement to the Irish Farmers Journal explaining the delays.

“All GLAS payment applications are subject to a series of required regulatory checks and validations. Applications which were not paid have not yet passed these checks for reasons including incomplete LESS declaration forms, unreturned or incomplete interim Commonage Management forms, changes to GLAS land parcels on BPS system, amendment of claims and some IT and data issues.”

IFA anger

IFA rural development chair Joe Brady has called on the Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed to intervene and resolve the debacle which has left up to 10,000 farmers without a GLAS payment. He said many of these farmers joined the scheme as far back as May 2015. Some have yet to receive a payment.

“The delays in GLAS and AEOS payments have caused a lot of concern on farms and has seriously affected cashflow difficulties on farms,” Brady said.

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