Just shy of 50,000 applications for the 2019 Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) have been submitted, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has confirmed to AgriLand.
The department has received exactly 49,551 online applications for the scheme, as of this morning, Monday, April 15.
Meanwhile, the department-run initiative of online clinics is continuing this week.
Each of the four provinces will host a BPS online clinic in the coming days, in what is the third week of the programme.
The series of clinics are designed to assist farmers in applying for the 2019 Basic Payment Scheme and Transfer of Entitlements.
These are applied for online following a change that was made in the application process last year; the clinics were established to help farmers navigate this process with the least amount of hassle.
The dates and locations for this week are as follows:
- Monday, April 15 – Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine Offices, Farnham Street, Cavan;
- Tuesday, April 16 – Shearwater Hotel, Marine Point, Ballinasloe, Co. Galway;
- Wednesday, April 17 – Arklow Bay Hotel, Sea Road, Ferrybank, Arklow, Co. Wicklow;
- Thursday, April 18 – Firgrove Hotel, Mitchelstown, Co. Cork.
All clinics begin at 9:00am and run until 3:00pm.
There will be no clinic on Easter Monday; that means that the next clinic after this week will be on Tuesday, April 23, in the County Arms Hotel, Birr, Co. Offaly, which will run for the same hours.
The clinics will continue to run up to Monday, May 13, two days before the closing date for BPS applications.
The clinics were announced by Michael Creed, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, at the end of last month.
At the time, the minister said: “In recent years, my department has put in place BPS online clinics around the country where farmers can meet one-to-one with a member of staff and make their BPS applications there and then.
These clinics proved very popular with farmers, and I am happy to announce that the same service will be available again this year.
“I would urge all farmers to avail of the opportunity to apply for the BPS at this stage via the online system. It is open for farmers to do this either as individuals or through an agent,” the minister added.
Should farmers wish to contact the department in relation to their online application, they can do so by calling: 076-1064424 for queries on registering for www.agfood.ie; or 076-1064420 for queries on actually completing the BPS application once registered.