Overdue farm subsidies will start to be distributed “before the weekend”, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon TD has promised.
The payments should have gone out last week, but the government said public sector industrial action had forced a delay.
Farmers depend on EU subsidies for much of their income and the Irish Farmers Association (IFA) was angered by the delay.
IFA President Francie Gorman called it a “bombshell” for farmers and their families.
“Farm families have budgeted and planned around receiving these payments for bank repayments and other bills. It defies logic that a one-day work to rule and strike action could result” in delays, he said.
Initially the government did not expect to be able to clear payments until the end of the month. But it has now brought the delay forward to the end of this week.
The delay applies to payments of Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) and Complementary Redistributive Income Support for Sustainability (CRISS).
Minister Heydon said: “I have been working intensively to find a solution to the delays in BISS and CRISS payments and I can now confirm that payments will commence before the weekend.
This will minimise the delays farmers have seen and I want to acknowledge the co-operation of the Unions involved in recognising the importance of these payments to farmers throughout the country.”
“I understand the critical value of these payments to farmers and rural Ireland more broadly and I am glad the payments can now issue at the higher rate of 75 percent in line with the Eco-scheme payment last Friday which saw €203 million issued to almost 107,000 farmers.”