Approximately 96,000 farmers are due a refund worth a collective €13.6 million under the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS).

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Michael Creed recently confirmed that the refund payments to farmers have already commenced.

This money was deducted from farmers’ BPS payments in 2015 under the Financial Discipline rule, the minister said.

“I am pleased to confirm that the Financial Discipline deduction, totalling €13.6 million, from the 2015 BPS payment will now be reimbursed to eligible 2016 applicants.

“[These payments] will bring the total paid to Irish farmers under the 2016 BPS to €1.2 billion,” he said.

Meanwhile, online applications to the BPS this year increased even further; they reached almost 114,000, he said.

Some 87% of farmers availed of the online option for the 2017 scheme; a number which far exceeds the EU target of 75% for this period and moves Ireland significantly towards its target of 100% online applications in 2018.

Preliminary Checks

Minister Creed has previously highlighted preliminary checks as a key advantage of choosing to submit your BPS application online.

Preliminary checks for online BPS applicants began at the start of the month; close to 7,500 farmers are set to benefit from the first run of preliminary checks on online BPS applications.

The department confirmed that preliminary checks for online applicants will begin to issue shortly.

Online BPS applicants will be notified by the department of any non-compliance in the areas of overclaims, dual-claims and overlaps once these preliminary checks are completed.

An online notification will be issued to a farmer/adviser when a preliminary check identifies an overclaim, dual-claim or overlap on a BPS application.

If a farmer is registered for text message alerts, a text will be sent informing the farmer that a preliminary check notification has been issued, according to the department.

Minister Creed recently encouraged farmers and advisers who receive a preliminary check notification to address it, as soon as possible, on the BPS online system.

Applicants who are notified by the department will then be given until June 19 to rectify any non-compliance online.

The department has confirmed that there will be no penalty or reduction where such non-compliance is fully rectified by that date.