Kerry Dairy Ireland has confirmed that payments totalling €50m to its suppliers under the leading milk price settlement have not been issued to farmers.

However, a spokesperson for the business insisted that the payments were being processed. Kerry Co-op chair James Tangney indicated that Kerry suppliers would receive their leading milk price settlement payments in January.

Tangney told a shareholder meeting in Ennis in December, ahead of a crucial vote which gave the green light to Kerry Co-op’s purchase of Kerry Group’s Irish dairy business, that €50m was being transferred from Kerry Group to Kerry Dairy Ireland to cover the settlement payment and “that fund will be paid out to farmers in January”.

Tangney doubled down on this commitment when interviewed in December for an Irish Farmers Journal podcast.

The Kerry Co-op chair initially suggested that the leading milk price payment would be made in January or February, but stated it would be January when pressed on the matter.

“The intention is to pay this [the leading milk price settlement] once we’ve completed the deal in the end of January.

“This payment will be made directly into farmers’ accounts,” Tangney insisted on the 11 December podcast. In response to questions from the newspaper, Kerry Dairy Ireland confirmed this week that it had not yet issued payments to farmers.

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“The leading milk price settlement is being processed and will be paid in the coming weeks,” a spokesperson for Kerry Dairy Ireland stated.

Some sources claimed the fund would be paid out around the second week of February, but this could not be confirmed.

Kerry’s leading milk price settlement will pay 5.4c/l on the average supply for the years 2015 to 2020. However, it is limited to 120% of contracted milk.

Where a farmer supplied 500,000 litres a year for the period, the settlement will be €27,000 on the base price, plus additional payments for solids.