Just under 41,000 applications were made to the National Liming Programme, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has confirmed.

The €8 million scheme, to help farmers to “offset part of the expense of using lime”, closed for applications on April 20, 2023.

However, at a payment rate of €16/t, this would require a budget of more than €72 million if all of the 4.5 million tonnes of lime sought was approved and claimed by farmers.

The average tonnage sought per applicant under the liming programme is just over 111t.

The DAFM told Agriland that by the deadline it had received 40,959 applications from farmers for the new scheme.

The figures show that Cork was the county with the highest number of applications at 4,921.

This was followed by Galway on 4,566 and Mayo with 4,179 applications.

At 107, Dublin was the county with the lowest number of farmers seeking to avail of the payment.

The following table provides a county-by-county breakdown for the number of applications made to DAFM under the scheme:

A spokesperson for the department said that all applicants that meet the eligibility requirements set down in the terms and conditions for the National Liming Programme will be accepted into the scheme.

However, the approved quantities of ground limestone will have to reflect the available budget for the programme.

"Each successful applicant will be contacted directly by DAFM in the coming weeks, outlining the quantity of lime they are eligible to receive aid on," the spokesperson added.