Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon has said that criticism of his department's budget allocation is "playing with figures".

In Budget 2027, which was announced yesterday (Tuesday, October 6), the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine was allocated €2.344 billion, which, according to Minister Heydon, is the department's largest allocation ever.

However, some opposition TD have said that the department's budget has been reduced.

Sinn Féin spokesperson on agriculture Martin Kenny claimed that the department's budget allocation in down €61 million on this year, while Aontú TD Paul Lawless suggested that the total envelope allocated to agriculture is down €73 million.

According to Minister Heydon, claims of a reduced budget are "not accurate".

Speaking to journalists today (Wednesday, October 7), the minister said the suggestions of a decreased budget are "playing with figures in terms of taking the one-off money that came in the middle of this budget year and applying it to last year's allocation".

"The fact is yesterday’s budget allocation is the biggest my department has ever received, €2.344 billion, and it is an increase on last year," the minister insisted.

"Of course there was the €100 million support package in April, which was expended on the Fuel Income Support Scheme, a demand led scheme to support our farmers, farm contractors, specialist horticulture and our fisheries sectors," he added.

The underspend on the total €100 million allocated for fuel support this year was around €62 million, with €38 million being paid out to farmers, contractors and other impacted sectors under the Department of Agriculture.

Minister Heydon said: "We have the exceptional aid measure of €15.4 million coming from the EU as support for the increased costs of fertiliser that has been used, as a result of the war in the Middle East.

"So that therefore allows me to have, which has been totally discounted by the opposition spokespeople, €77 million worth of financial support to go into farmers pockets this year, between now and the end of the year," he added.

It is understood that the €62 million underspend for the fuel scheme will be used for two purposes: half of it will be used on a second tranche of the Fuel Income Support Scheme; while the other half will be used to top up the fertiliser support money from the EU for a new scheme to offset fertiliser costs.

Minister Heydon said he is "at an advanced stage" of designing the fertiliser cost support scheme, which will have funding of around €46 million, when the €15 million from the EU is topped up by €31 million from the Fuel Income Support Scheme underspend.

"I intend to have a scheme that is very straightforward; very low on red tape and bureaucracy; and very easy for farmers who will be in receipt of it, based on usage, based on the [National] Fertiliser Database," he said.

The minister indicated that the details of the new fertiliser scheme will be finalised within the next week.