The Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) has called on Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon to honour the commitment to pay €75/cow under the Beef Welfare Scheme.

The chair of the IFA Livestock Committee Declan Hanrahan said the minister "must find the €3.7 million funding" to pay all suckler farmers who completed the scheme actions the full €75/cow payment.

Hanrahan recently met with Minister Heydon on this issue and has rejected plans to cut payments to suckler farmers in the scheme by up to €8/cow as the scheme is oversubscribed.

"The strong uptake of the scheme is very positive for the sector and should not now be used to penalise suckler farmers who invested in the measures on their farms," he said.

Beef scheme

Hanrahan claimed that in the past ministers for agriculture have "stood firm" in support of farmers where schemes were oversubscribed and found the additional funding.

"This move by Minister Heydon and his government colleagues sends a very bad message to suckler farmers whose livelihoods very much depend on direct supports to the sector," he said.

The IFA Livestock chair said the scheme is based on "income foregone, cost incurred".

He said this means suckler farmers have "incurred the costs in good faith in the expectation the minister would honour his commitment to pay all eligible farmers the €75/cow they are entitled to".

"We have plenty of soundbites from the minister and his government colleagues of how important the sector is.

"They must now follow these words with actions by securing the €3.7 million funding to pay farmers the full €75/cow which represents the costs of the scheme," Hanrahan said.