More than 4,200 farmers are now waiting for GLAS, AEOS and Organic Farm Scheme payments, some for longer than six months.

Many of them have spent thousands of euro to meet their scheme requirements, planting hedges and sowing crops to achieve environmental targets set down and adhering to the various scheme rules.

The situation is causing serious cashflow difficulties on farms and payment delays of this nature would simply not be tolerated in any other industry.

If teachers’ or nurses’ salaries were delayed for even half as long, there would be uproar, pickets, and no doubt rapid intervention by the Labour Relations Commission. Exacerbating the issue for farmers and advisers is the lack of communication from the Department of Agriculture, with phone calls and emails going unanswered.

Waiting for overdue payment is stressful for farmers, but an information vacuum makes it even worse, preventing them from planning with their merchants and banks.

The Department has spent millions on IT in recent years and has a considerable spending planned for this year, presumably in preparation for the move to 100% online Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) applications next year. In contrast to the other schemes, the BPS online system is almost universally praised by those farmers and agricultural advisers using it.

The system of online checks, reminders and a backup query service has ensured an exceptionally smooth application and payment system in 2016 and 2017. It begs the question – if the Department can get BPS so right, how has it gone so wrong with the others schemes?

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Computer chaos: IT woes at the Department

Department spent €7.5m on IT since 2014