Online portals for the Knowledge Transfer (KT) programme are down again, with agricultural advisers unable to load farmer information on Friday morning.

The IT system for the programme, which has 20,000 farmers signed up, has been plagued by delays and problems.

The farm improvement plan portal for advisers is not available, with an automated message reading: “The Department’s systems are currently unavailable due to essential maintenance. Normal service will be restored as soon as possible.”

Earlier this week, the deadline for the KT programme was extended by two months as a result of growing pressure from KT group facilitators. Both the Agricultural Consultants Association and Teagasc had requested an extension amid fears they would not have time to complete all the required online paperwork for farmers.

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