Farmers did not cash cheques worth over £1.7 million in 1997, the Department of Agriculture has confirmed in end-of-year figures issued yesterday.
It said that it had to reissue 3,316 cheques worth £1,726,540 to farmers during the year, and the largest of these was for £17,232.
The cheques, according to a Department spokesperson, covered all the schemes operated by the Department on its own and on behalf of the EU.
In all, farmers were paid over £900 million in 1997 in cheques, an amount which forms a considerable portion of farm income for Ireland's 120,000 farmers.
But last night the Irish Farmers' Association defended the situation and said the public should not conclude that farmers had so much money that they need not bother cashing cheques.
"If you look at the situation you will see the figure is less than 0.2 per cent of total monies paid and there are a variety of legitimate reasons why cheques are not cashed," a spokesman said.
"In fact, given the amount of money that is paid in cheques I suspect that the number of social welfare cheques which are uncashed may be the same or even higher," he said.
He said the legitimate reasons for cheques not being cashed could include farmers wanting to facilitate cash flow, saving for a time when cash was needed or because cheques were incorrectly issued.
"It happens at every level and some of the cheques may have been issued to the wrong people, or in the wrong name or to people who have died," he said.
"What we would like to know now is when will the 10,000 farmers who have not received all they are owed from last year get their money," he added.
He said that under the Charter of Rights farmers were to have been paid all their entitlements by the end of each year, but this was not the case.