Michael Creed, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, has confirmed that just over 2,500 applicants to the Beef Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP) are yet to pass the necessary approval checks.

The minister said that these participants in the initiative will receive their payments only after they become “fully compliant with the requirements of the programme”.

Minister Creed was responding to a written parliamentary question from Fianna Fail spokesperson on agriculture Charlie McConalogue, responding by saying all applicants to the scheme who have successfully passed the checks have received a payment – amounting to 22,032 farmers.

However, 2,511 farmers (over 10% of the number who have received a pay-out) are yet to receive any payments, according to Minister Creed’s department.

McConalogue had asked the minister for the figures on the amount of scheme applicants who had not yet received the 85% advance payment of the 2018 payment, and also the figures on how many farmers had passed the necessary approval checks.

Minister Creed responded by saying: “Payments under the 2018 programme year for both BDGP I and BDGP II commenced in December 2018.

As of January 11, 2019, a total of 22,032 participants have received a payment to date.

However, the minister highlighted that: “Payments are issued based on the level of compliance reached under each requirement of the scheme.”

The minister also supplied a table of the figures, based on a county-by-county breakdown:

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