Payments for farmers under the GLAS scheme have been brought forward, and were due to reach farmer’s bank account early this week, according to a statement released by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
Some €26 million in balancing payments was slated to be issued to in excess of 42,000 farmers throughout the country, with this tranche of funds representing the final 15% of the 2019 payment.
A statement from the Department indicated that this completes ‘the total payment for GLAS actions undertaken last year’.
Commenting, the Minister said: “At this difficult time I am pleased to be in a position to commence these GLAS balancing payments a month ahead of schedule,” adding that he expected this move would ‘significantly improve cashflow on Irish farms in these challenging times’.
Concluding, Minister Creed stated: “It is an important part of our response to the impacts of Covid-19 on Irish farm incomes.”
The decision to release this portion of funding ahead of schedule, followed calls for action from across the political spectrum.
Speaking to The Avondhu last week, Fianna Fáil county councillor William O’Leary, stated that the lack of support to help farmers deal with income pressures resulting from the COVD-19 restrictions was ‘unacceptable’.
“We have seen many departments do their best to step up to the plate during the current pandemic, but the silence from the Department of Agriculture has been deafening and alarming,” he remarked at the time.
“There is an urgent need for Minister Creed to bring forward the GLAS balancing payments to the 48,000 farmers waiting on them. We are in an unprecedented situation. The restrictions in place have had a big impact on farmers and will continue to do so as they are extended to 5 May,” Cllr O’Leary had explained.
He noted that many farmers are currently experiencing cash-flow issues, and argued that this situation was being exacerbated by anxiety on the part of lenders who showed reluctance to extend short-term credit to farmers.
“Bringing forward the GLAS balancing payments will ease some of the financial pressure farmers are under,” Cllr O’Leary concluded.
Immediate support
Calling for intervention at a European level, the councillor stated that Charlie McConalogue, Fianna Fáil’s Spokesperson for Agriculture, had repeatedly asked for the European Commission to implement support measures for the agriculture sector.
“We also need to see aid to private storage measures introduced from Europe without delay in order to stabilise meat and dairy prices over the coming weeks,” Cllr O’Leary said.
