Donal O’Brien—protesting because he claims he has not yet received an €8,700 REPS payment he has been waiting for since August—was treated and later discharged.

County Chairman of the Irish Farmers Association, Michael Roche, was outside the offices when Mr O’Brien was taken away in the ambulance.

The farmer had been keeping his lonely vigil in the public gallery of the Raheen offices, which were closed to other members of the public (apart from phone queries) from Friday until yesterday afternoon, when Mr O’Brien left.

It was not known at the time of going to press if Mr O’Brien would continue his hunger strike or his protest at the department’s offices.

Mr Roche, who spent time outside the offices in solidarity, said that Mr O’Brien had been “in good form” and had been taking liquids but was “very determined” in his defiant stance.

Mr O’Brien said that if he got notice that the payment would be stopped he “could have notified by bank and made other arrangements. But this came out of the blue. It is completely unfair. I came in here demanding my payment and I won’t leave until I get an assurance that it will be paid”.

“I’m just one of 6,500 or so farmers affected. If anyone in any other sector of the economy was told ‘You won’t get your wages for 12 months’, there’d be uproar,” he added.

Over 300 farmers gathered at the offices on Sunday to protest and according to Mr Roche, this shows some of the anger of those waiting for REPS payments, which have been stopped because of changes in EU systems.

“Farmers have a contract with the department under REPS Two and Three and they are due payment at different times of the year. The department is now trying to break that contract. These people have loan repayments and other expenses this time of year and so REPS money has to be used for groceries and bills. It’s not the same as the Single Farmers Payment; it’s an agreed part of their income.”

He said that Mr O’Brien was told on January 23 that he was cleared for payment and came on Thursday to get his cheque.

“He was then told that he wouldn’t be paid because the department was ‘unable’ to do so. The Rural Environment Protection Scheme has been running for 14 years and audited every year by the EU. Now the department is suddenly in breach of some rule.”

A spokesman for the Department of Agriculture said that the department had a policy of giving REPS payments “in advance” but the European Commission decided that this needed to be reviewed and suggested that inspections of work carried out should be made in advance of payments.

He emphasised that the scheme was continuing but the question was “when” will farmers be paid as opposed to ‘if’.

Comments (0) »

Show/Hide comment form

Name

Email

Title

Comment

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment