Over 9,000 farmers are waiting for their ACRES payments, many for more than two years. Many of these farmers are financially strapped at this time. No other group or individuals would wait that long for their money. These people have bills to pay too. We have been told the system is broken down. If we had an old tractor or lorry broken down for two years, it would be timely to call Hammond Lane or Cork Metal Company to take it away and scrap it. The system the Government has must be scrapped. It should at least pay 70% or 80% of what the farmers are owed to keep them going. They will go under. They have had an awfully hard winter and a long spring and they are struggling for money. It is theirs and they are entitled to get it. I cannot understand why, after two years, the system has not been fine-tuned. Many of the farmers are still without a payment. We see in the Irish Farmers' Journal this week that there are 9,300, and many of them are coming to us.

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. My understanding is that number has been reduced, but 9,000 still waiting is too many. What happened was that the scheme was expanded to accommodate everybody. When the Minister paid out what the Deputy suggested, he made advance payments. Some of them were over what people might have been entitled to, and then people were concerned about having to make payments back. In any event, I will talk to the Minister for agriculture in respect of how we can expedite payment and get this concluded.