27th March, 2013

The Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association is calling on the Department of Agriculture to immediately pay out all money owed to farmers under schemes such as REPS, AEOS and BTAP, as cashflow becomes a real problem on weather-hit farms across the country.  

ICSA president Gabriel Gilmartin said, “Farmers are under severe pressure at the moment after ten months of appalling weather.  Fodder supplies are dwindling rapidly, and have run out completely on some farms – but the weather is nowhere near good enough to let animals out to grass, so extra fodder must be bought in.  Bearing in mind the severe difficulty of securing credit from banks, cashflow is a serious issue on many farms so anything that can be done, must be done.  The Department must therefore step up and do everything in its power to make sure that no farmer has an unnecessary wait for any money owed to them.”