Balancing payments of 30% under the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) commence today (Thursday 1 December).
It brings the total volume of funding paid to €1.12bn to 121,000 applicants as of today (€780m to 120,000 farmers last week).
There are approximately 5,000 farmers who have still to receive payment.
Once cleared for payment, these applicants will receive 100% of their BPS in one payment.
The payment rate for Areas of Natural Constraint remains similar at €188m paid to 87,000 applicants.
There are about 9,000 applicants awaiting payments, with a significant percentage of outstanding payment claims delayed due to inadequate stocking rates.
Outstanding payments
Commenting on those yet to receive payment, Minister Creed said his Department is continuing to prioritise the processing of outstanding cases under both schemes.
“I can confirm that every effort continues to be made to clear for payment the small percentage of outstanding cases. Regular pay runs will continue in December in order to process cases as quickly as possible.
“I am particularly pleased that we have continued to process payments at a rate that compares very favourably to the systems in place in other member states,” he said.
The Minister is urging farmers who may have outstanding queries from DAFM to respond immediately so that payment can be made as soon as possible.
Department provides clarity on TAMS sheep fencing
After a few weeks of uncertainty, The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has provided full clarity on the eligibility criteria for sheep fencing in TAMS II. A spokesperson for DAFM has provided the following clarifications:
No further rejection letters will issue in respect of sheep fencing applications. Those applicants who have requested a review will have their applications examined. If they currently have sheep, it is open to them to submit copies of mart dockets or a partial copy of their sheep register. If they do not have sheep, it is open to them to state in their letter of review that they intend to farm sheep in the future. If either situation applies, their rejection status will be removed.Applicants will be advised that stocking levels will be checked by the local office before a payment claim for this investment item is approved.Applicants will be required to have a minimum of 40 sheep (any type) before a payment claim is submitted. Along with these criteria, DAFM says evidence of at least 40 sheep (can be of any kind) in the year prior to the submission of the payment claim and, as in all TAMS measures, the applicant shall be required to use the investment for the purposes for which it is intended for a period of five years following the date of issue of the payment claim.
TAMS update
The current tranche of TAMS II is open for online applications until 13 January 2017.
As of Monday 28 November, DAFM reports 188 applications being submitted. It says experience from the first four tranches has indicated that the majority of applications are submitted in the final weeks leading up to the closure of particular tranches. To date, 4,965 approvals have been issued across the initial four tranches of the TAMS II.
Payment application
Meanwhile, the Department is urging farmers who have completed approved TAMS II investments to submit their payment claim.
DAFM says the online payment application system will ensure payments are examined and paid as soon as possible.
To date, there have been 502 payment claims received (as shown in Table 1), while DAFM says there are a further 550 claims at an advanced stage on the online system.
Balancing payments of 30% under the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) commence today (Thursday 1 December).
It brings the total volume of funding paid to €1.12bn to 121,000 applicants as of today (€780m to 120,000 farmers last week).
There are approximately 5,000 farmers who have still to receive payment.
Once cleared for payment, these applicants will receive 100% of their BPS in one payment.
The payment rate for Areas of Natural Constraint remains similar at €188m paid to 87,000 applicants.
There are about 9,000 applicants awaiting payments, with a significant percentage of outstanding payment claims delayed due to inadequate stocking rates.
Outstanding payments
Commenting on those yet to receive payment, Minister Creed said his Department is continuing to prioritise the processing of outstanding cases under both schemes.
“I can confirm that every effort continues to be made to clear for payment the small percentage of outstanding cases. Regular pay runs will continue in December in order to process cases as quickly as possible.
“I am particularly pleased that we have continued to process payments at a rate that compares very favourably to the systems in place in other member states,” he said.
The Minister is urging farmers who may have outstanding queries from DAFM to respond immediately so that payment can be made as soon as possible.
Department provides clarity on TAMS sheep fencing
After a few weeks of uncertainty, The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has provided full clarity on the eligibility criteria for sheep fencing in TAMS II. A spokesperson for DAFM has provided the following clarifications:
No further rejection letters will issue in respect of sheep fencing applications. Those applicants who have requested a review will have their applications examined. If they currently have sheep, it is open to them to submit copies of mart dockets or a partial copy of their sheep register. If they do not have sheep, it is open to them to state in their letter of review that they intend to farm sheep in the future. If either situation applies, their rejection status will be removed.Applicants will be advised that stocking levels will be checked by the local office before a payment claim for this investment item is approved.Applicants will be required to have a minimum of 40 sheep (any type) before a payment claim is submitted. Along with these criteria, DAFM says evidence of at least 40 sheep (can be of any kind) in the year prior to the submission of the payment claim and, as in all TAMS measures, the applicant shall be required to use the investment for the purposes for which it is intended for a period of five years following the date of issue of the payment claim.
TAMS update
The current tranche of TAMS II is open for online applications until 13 January 2017.
As of Monday 28 November, DAFM reports 188 applications being submitted. It says experience from the first four tranches has indicated that the majority of applications are submitted in the final weeks leading up to the closure of particular tranches. To date, 4,965 approvals have been issued across the initial four tranches of the TAMS II.
Payment application
Meanwhile, the Department is urging farmers who have completed approved TAMS II investments to submit their payment claim.
DAFM says the online payment application system will ensure payments are examined and paid as soon as possible.
To date, there have been 502 payment claims received (as shown in Table 1), while DAFM says there are a further 550 claims at an advanced stage on the online system.
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