Fianna Fáil Spokesperson on Agriculture, Food & the Marine Charlie McConalogue says he’s “appalled” that fewer than one-third of farmers who had applied for payment under the tillage compensation scheme have received funding.
New information released to Deputy McConalogue reveals that only 45 out of 167 applicants to the crop loss compensation scheme have received payment.
“The three-quarters of farmers who applied for urgent assistance remain unpaid at this point in time is a shocking indictment of just how out of touch this Government is with small farmers and rural Ireland. Almost every farm scheme is experiencing unacceptable delays, but the fact that this is a compensation scheme is a major concern”, said Deputy McConalogue.
“Tillage farmers had their crop destroyed by severe weather in Autumn 2016. The Government resisted every call for a crisis aid fund to help tillage farmers whose livelihoods had been wiped out. It was only following a Fianna Fáil campaign and Dáil motion that Minister Creed finally woke up to the seriousness of the situation and in July he finally conceded and established a tillage compensation fund.
“Now it’s emerged there are serious delays in payment. This really isn’t good enough. These farmers are already under enormous pressure after two wet summers. The Minister needs to immediately accelerate the delivery of these payments to ensure their farms can remain viable”.
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