The commencement of payments of over €13.4 million to approximately 98,000 farmers has been announced by Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Michael Creed.
This money was deducted from their 2017 Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) payments under the Financial Discipline rule, and is now being reimbursed in line with the EU regulations.
Minister Creed commented on the matter, stating:
I am pleased to confirm that these payments totalling €13.4 million are now being reimbursed to eligible farmers.
“These payments will bring the total paid to Irish farmers under the 2018 Basic Payment Scheme to €1.19 billion,” the minister added.
Crisis Reserve
In the context of the annual budgetary procedure of the European Union, the financial discipline mechanism which is implemented by the member states involves a monetary deduction – some 1.4% for the 2018 reduction – from some direct payments.
This creates a financial crisis reserve for the European Union, according to the Department of Agriculture.
In the event that the crisis reserve is not activated in the financial year, or it is not fully utilised, the balance not used is refunded to farmers in the subsequent financial year – resulting in this reimbursement.