Around 2,000 applications have been made by contractors for the Fuel Income Support Scheme, according to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM).

The €85 million scheme was introduced as a "targeted income support" to assist farmers and agricultural and forestry contractors facing "unprecedented increases in fuel costs".

"Applications are currently being processed and it will take a period of time for all the relevant information to be collated to allow definitive information regarding claimant numbers and payment rates.

"However, based on preliminary analysis 32,417 farmers have applied for the scheme through the online application," a DAFM spokesperson told Agriland.

Fuel support scheme

Separately, the department said, "in excess of 2,000 paper applications, the majority of which are from agricultural/forestry contractors have been received, but analysis of the correspondence received is still ongoing".

DAFM noted that these numbers will "likely change" for a number of reasons, including duplicate applications.

Some claims may also be deemed ineligible claims as under the terms and conditions of the scheme there is a minimum payment of €100 per applicant.

Farmers

The department said 32,417 applications were made online through the AgFood portal by farmers for the Fuel Income Support Scheme.

Cork was the county with the highest number of applications at 4,573, followed by Galway (2,450), Tipperary (2,299) and Kerry (1,712).

The following table provides a full county breakdown for the online/farmer applications:

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon recently said the total payment to be made to each applicant will be calculated once all claims have been checked and verified.

"Based on the applications received so far, the average payment for farmers is approximately €650, while the average contractor will see a payment of more than €6,000.

"Larger contractors will potentially receive significantly higher supports," he said.

The minister said that payments are expected to issue in the coming weeks, before the end of July.

In response to a question from Independent Ireland TD Michael Fitzmaurice, Minister Heydon said the average payment figure of €650 for farmers was based on the indicative figure of 20c/L.

He added that "20c/L may not be the final figure".

"If I can pay more, I will. I set an indicative figure to give a ballpark to people," he said.

Minister Heydon said he would have to comply with State aid rules and would have negotiations with the Department of Public Expenditure "with regard to the final figure that I can pay".