THE farm organisations have criticised the Department of Agriculture about delays in paying farmers the second instalment due under the Rural Environment Protection Scheme (REPS).
The Department confirmed last week that it had uncovered many faults in the scheme and had suspended two planners involved in drawing up five year plans for farmers, who are paid up to £5,000 a year to farm in an environmentally sensitive way.
It also confirmed that it will in future inspect all farms due for second year payments under the scheme to determine if the plan submitted to the Department is being honoured. This has led to delays in making payments.
The Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers' Association (ICMSA) called yesterday for an appeals system for farmers being penalised under REPS by having a portion of the money due to them withheld.
Mr Maurice Harvey, chairman of the ICMSA farm services committee, said that, based on Department inspections to date, 21 per cent resulted in some penalty, and the average penalty was 25 per cent of annual payment.
"If this continues, the Department will claw back over £2 million from farmers this year by way of REPS penalties," he said, adding that REPS compliance checks were subject to different interpretations.
Farmers, he added, should be able to formally appeal against any REPS penalty recommended by an inspector, and the current arrangement by which a farmer has seven days to put his case in writing was grossly inadequate and unfair.
The Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) deputy president, Mr Michael Slattery, called on the Department to sanction 80 per cent REPS payments on account to the 3,800 farmers awaiting their second year instalment.
He said Department staff could only carry out one check each day, and it was obvious that payment delays for REPS would become the norm, as 1,000 REPS payments are coming due every month.
Mr Slattery said there was a serious shortage of cash on some farms because of overdue REPS payments, and the IFA would not tolerate a situation where delays became the norm.
Mr Hugh Byrne, the Fianna Fail deputy spokesman on agriculture, criticised the Minister for Agriculture for his refusal to name the planners taken off the REPS panel. He demanded that the Minister justify his failure to apply normal measures of consumer protection for farmers dealing with REPS planners.