Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue, today (Friday, July 1) announced the commencement of payments of over €21.7 million to approximately 100,000 farmers who applied to the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS).
This money was deducted from 2020 BPS payments under Financial Discipline and is now being reimbursed to farmers in line with the EU regulations.
Minister McConalogue stated: “I am pleased to confirm that these payments are now being reimbursed to eligible farmers.
“These payments will bring the total paid to Irish farmers under the 2020 Basic Payment Scheme to over €1.183 billion.”
BPS payments
The financial discipline mechanism is part of the annual budgetary procedure of the European Union (EU).
The financial discipline mechanism involves a monetary deduction (2.9% for the 2020 reduction) from some direct payments for the provision of a financial Crisis Reserve for the EU.
The Crisis Reserve is intended to provide additional support for the agricultural sector in the case of major crises affecting agricultural production or distribution.
If the Crisis Reserve is not activated in the financial year, or it is not fully utilised, the unused balance is refunded to farmers in the subsequent financial year.
Applications
Minister McConalogue confirmed at the end of May that 128,360 farmers applied for the 2022 BPS by the deadline of May 16.
The minister noted that the figure is in line with application numbers for previous years.
In addition, 33,207 Transfer of Entitlements applications were made to the department by the deadline.
Applications were also made for the Greening Scheme, Young Farmer Scheme, Protein Aid, Straw Incorporation Measure (SIM) and Areas of Natural Constraints (ANC) Scheme.
The highest number of 2022 BPS applications made by this year’s deadline came from Co. Cork. Almost 10%, or 12,813, came from the Rebel County.
This was followed by Co. Galway with 12,112 applications and Co. Mayo with 11,366.