Joseph Naughton, of Joseph Naughton Auctioneers, is one of the busiest auctioneers in Ireland when it comes to entitlements and his phone was hopping last week.

The deadline, which he was hoping for an extension too, is drawing near and trading will cease tomorrow, Tuesday, May 15.

“Human nature being the way it is, a lot of people have left it until the last minute to both lease them in and lease them out. With the weather being the way it was, people left them until the last minute,” Joseph told AgriLand.

Low-value entitlements are generally hard to move, he explained.

“There will be a certain amount of low-value entitlements with a net value from about €88 to €120 that will be difficult to move. People have a preference for leasing out higher-value entitlements.

Anyone that’s leasing a small number of entitlements is looking to lease entitlements from €250 upwards.

Low-value entitlements are leasing for about 50% of their value, according to Joseph. These figures are including the greening payment.

Entitlements valued at €220-350 are leasing for 56-63% of their value, while higher value entitlements are leasing for more.

According to Joseph, entitlements between the value of €350 and €700 are leasing for between 64% and 72% of their value.