Over 32,000 farmers applied for the Fuel Income Support Scheme, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon has confirmed.

However, the minister told the Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine this evening (Wednesday, June 10) he could not yet provide a final figure for how many farm contractors applied.

He explained that as there was never a scheme for contractors previously, a paper-based system was used.

Instead, he told the committee that "we've had a healthy amount of applications".

The minister said farmers applied through the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine's (DAFM's) AgFood online portal.

Minister Heydon said his officials are currently working through all applications with payments expected to issue in the coming weeks, before the end of July.

Fuel Support Scheme

The €85 million scheme for farmers and farm contractors was aimed at those impacted by the sudden and unexpected increase in the cost of marked gas oil, also known as green diesel.

Minister Heydon said he wanted to "ensure that support was directed to those impacted by the price increase and who are actively engaged in producing our food and managing our forests".

"My department engaged with representative bodies prior to the introduction of the scheme, and designed a scheme that is straightforward, targeted and capable of getting money to farmers and farm contractors very quickly," he said.

"The total payment to be received by each applicant will be calculated once all claims have been submitted, checked and verified.

"Larger contractors will potentially receive significantly higher supports.

"Payments will issue once all checks have been completed," he told the committee.

In response to a question from Independent Ireland TD Michael Fitzmaurice, Minister Heydon said the average payment figure of €650 for farmers was based on the indicative figure of 20c/L.

"I'm telling you here clearly that 20c/L is not something that...that final figure may not be that. If I can pay more, I will.

"I set an indicative figure to give a ballpark to people," he said.

Deputy Fitzmaurice then asked the minister if he is "going to spend the full budget" under the scheme.

"Within the flexibility that I'll have available to me and with deeper approval, obviously, I have to work through....there's State aid rules that I have to meet," Heydon said.

The minister added that he will have negotiations with the Department of Public Expenditure "with regard to the final figure that I can pay".

Minister Heydon also said he decided to extend the deadline for scheme as contractors were "flat out" in the good weather in the week prior to the original deadline.

However, he noted that less than 1,000 extra applications came in on the AgFood system during that additional week, meaning that the "vast majority" of farmer applications were made in the initial window.