Many Irish farmers are bound to be unhappy with the news that the cheque-in-the-post era will come to an end next year, writes Seán Mac Connell, Agriculture Correspondent
While the money will still be paid out by the EU, it is demanding that from 2009 all funds going to farmers must be by way of electronic financial transfer (EFT).
The problem is that less than half of Ireland's 130,000 farmers have been prepared to give their bank details to the Department of Agriculture, which makes the payments.
It said yesterday that, despite an intense effort to arrange electronic transfers, most Irish farmers do not want the direct payments going to their banks.
"That system is going to have to change because the EU is demanding that all payments in 2009 are to be made electronically," he said.
"This means that we cannot issue cheques to farmers, and if we do the State will be penalised by the commission."
Most farmers, it would appear, prefer to get the cheques into their hands, and have been reluctant to give permission for the direct payment into their accounts, unlike Scotland, where all transfers are electronic.
However, when the farmers switch to electronic payment it will prevent a recurrence of the annual problem of uncashed cheques in the farming community.
The Dáil was told in 2005 that in the years 2002-2004 farmers failed to cash cheques worth almost €3.5 million, a total of 14,858 cheques.
In 2003 a total of 3,321 cheques went out of date with a value of €853,342, and in 2002, 6,728 cheques went uncashed valued at €885,298.
Last year, for instance, almost 4,000 cheques with an unknown value had to be reissued to farmers who had received €2.4 billion in the post.
The introduction of the Single Farm Payment in 2005 reduced the number of cheques being issued to farmers from almost two million annually.
The electronic transfer will also kill off the claim against farmers that they do not fear bad weather, only a postal strike.