An incident which forced staff to evacuate the Department of Agriculture's office in Wexford will have no impact on the roll-out of farm payments, the Department has confirmed.

A burst pipe caused significant water damage to certain areas of the building, which is located at Johnstown Castle.

It is understood that the pipes burst in the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) section of the building, which resulted in staff having to work from home.

A Department spokesperson said that the issue with the water system had, and will have, no impact on the making of payments to farmers in relation to those departmental schemes administered by divisions in that building.

Blended working

"While the building was temporarily closed for a number of days, administrative work on schemes continued uninterrupted, facilitated by the blended working arrangements in place in the Department.

"The building has re-opened for staff and normal attendance patterns have resumed," the spokesperson said.

Payments

Over 40% of farmers in the ACRES co-operation stream are still waiting on a balancing payment, Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue has revealed.

This accounts for a total of 7,809 farmers in tranche one of the scheme.

In ACRES general, there are 20% awaiting payment, which accounts for 5,362 farmers in total.