€551m in BISS and CRISS payments issued after delay
Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) and Complementary Redistributive Income Support for Sustainability Scheme (CRISS) payments will begin to issue to farmers today (Thursday, October 22).
Payments will be visible in farmers’ bank accounts in the "coming days" according to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon.
More than 110,000 farmers are set to receive the payments which total more than €551 million.
The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine had received 122,151 applications from farmers, it has said that currently 116,831 are eligible for payment under BISS and CRISS.
The payments under the BISS and CRISS schemes had been scheduled to start last Friday (October 16) but were delayed due to the public services strike.
Farm leaders had criticised the delay caused by strike action, describing the disruption as a “massive blow for farmers”.
Both the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA) and the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers' Association (ICSA) had both hit out at farmers being impacted by the industrial action.
Payments
Today Minister Heydon said that he had "worked intensively to find a solution to the delay" in the BISS and CRISS payments.
Minister Heydon said: "These payments are vital to farm families throughout the country and also benefit the wider rural economy. Combined with the Areas of Natural Constraints Scheme (ANC) payments that issued in September and ECO payments that issued last week it means that in excess of €937 million of area-based payments have been paid from my department in the past month.
"I appreciate that the delay of six days has been a concern, but we are now in a position to move ahead with payments to over 110,089 farmers.
"Today 94% of cleared cases have been paid which is in line with our commitment under the Farmers Charter to pay 90% of eligible applications.”
According to the minister BISS and CRISS advance payments are at an increased rate of 75% for 2026.
He has also pledged that his department will continue to process, "as a matter of urgency, all remaining cases for payment as they meet scheme criteria".
"I would urge any farmers with outstanding requests for documentation from my department to respond quickly," Minister Heydon added.
