The State's 130,000 farmers will receive EU cheques worth just over half a billion euro in the post this morning. The €530 million payout is the second part of the Single Farm Payment, whereby those farmers receive more than €1.1 billion for this year. The first part of the payout began in October when they received 50 per cent of what they are owed from Brussels.
From today, the balance to be paid will be delivered to farms across the State. However, this is the last time farmers will receive a cheque in the post from Brussels and that anonymity is guaranteed.
The EU has insisted that in future all payments to farmers will be made only by electronic financial transfer. At the moment, only 50 per cent of farmers have given their banking details to the Department of Agriculture to facilitate this transfer but this will have to change.
The commission now says "no bank account, no payment". A system for a small number of farmers who do not have bank accounts, to be facilitated by An Post, is under consideration. Arrangements are also being made for the publication of payments on a website.
While the niceties of the scheme to make public the details of all payments have not been finalised, the political decision to move ahead was given in Brussels last week.