The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Simon Coveney, TD today announced the commencement of the advance payments under the 2012 Single Payment Scheme on Tuesday 16th October 2012.
"I am particularly pleased that these payments, worth well over half a billion euro, are going out on time", the Minister said. "It will be recalled that, earlier this year, mindful of farmers' cash flow and particularly mindful of the very adverse weather endured, I approached the EU farm Commissioner and got approval to make these payments earlier than provided for under the regulations. As a result, these payments are being made six weeks earlier than would otherwise be the case", he added. The 16th October is the earliest possible date for payment under EU law.
The Minister confirmed that 105,000 cases have been cleared for payment in the first run and the advance payments would continue to issue up until 30 November, with balancing payments starting from 1 December. "While payments are continuing to issue as cases become clear, I would urge anybody who has received correspondence from my Department highlighting problems in relation to their application, to respond without delay as, by doing so, those cases can then be processed to finality and payments issued", the Minister said.
Minister Coveney noted that these payments follow the payments under the Disadvantaged Areas Scheme, which began issuing three weeks ago. "To date, some €167 million has already been paid out under DAS, to 76,000 farmers. I can assure farmers that payments will continue to issue under both schemes, after the initial payments occur, as individual cases are cleared", the Minister emphasised, adding "my aim continues to be to maximize payments to farmers at the earliest possible date, subject to the necessary requirements of the Schemes being met".
