Minister Creed appears to have no authority inside his Department, according to Colm O’Donnell, national president of the INHFA.

O’Donnell said that this has been clearly illustrated by the Department’s “continued failure in delivering GLAS payments to the time frames he outlined”.

“Ensuring the Charter of Rights is fully adhered to would go some way in convincing us that he is up to the job.”

O’Donnell outlined how farmers can expect to see payments under the ANC or Basic Payment Schemes in the coming weeks, provided the Department have not found an issue with their application.

Critical dates

O’Donnell pointed to 1 and 15 September as critical dates, whereby Department officials are obliged to notify farmers of any problem with their application – that is not a stocking related issue.

“Where an issue, on an ANC application has being discovered prior to 1 September and farmers can provide a sufficient response within 14 days, the Department are obliged to have it dealt with by 15September,” O’Donnell continued.

For Basic Payment Scheme applications, the date farmers should be notified by is the 15 September and provided they can provide a sufficient response, then the issue should be dealt with by October 15, INHFA said.

‘Blatant disregard’

However, added O’Donnell: “The unfortunate facts to date has seen our Department ignore this, leaving many farmers waiting for payments well into the winter and sometimes into the spring of the following year.”

This blatant disregard for farmers’ rights should not be allowed to continue.

He said this is why INHFA is calling on Minister Creed to ensure that this autumn farmers’ rights are upheld as agreed in their Charter of Rights.

O’Donnell also expressed alarm at how other issues in the Charter of Rights continue to be flaunted on a daily basis such as; answering all calls within 20 seconds, voicemail messages being replied to within one day and the commitment to answer all queries and if unable to do so clarifying when you can expect to get an answer.

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‘Minister Creed appears to have no authority inside his Department’ – INHFA

The coming months will determine how capable the Minister for Agriculture, Michael Creed, is in his role, according to the Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association (IHNFA).