Payments due under the 2014 Beef Data Programme (BDP) will issue shortly, the Minister for Agriculture, Simon Coveney, has announced.
The payments amount to €2.5m and will be made before the year ends.
“I am delighted to announce that balancing and any residual payments due under the 2014 BDP, amounting to some €2.5m, will be made before the year-end.
“These payments follow closely on the €30m paid last week under the Beef Data and Genomics Programme,” he said.
Minister Coveney stated that the programme was introduced to improve the competitiveness of the Irish beef industry and the quality of the beef produced by improving the genetic quality of the National Suckler herd through the collection of essential breeding and production information.
He added that the programme was the precursor to the 2015 Beef Data and Genomics Programme which has a budget of €52m and which saw payments commence late last week.
“These payments demonstrate my commitment to the suckler sector and to the importance of breed improvements within the national suckler herd,” he said.
The Beef Data Programme payment is per calf up to 50 calves and it is worth €20 for the first 30 calves and €10 for the next 20, according to the Department of Agriculture.
Advance payments totalling €7.5m issued in June this year to approximately 32,000 suckler farmers.
These payments represent the balancing 20% payment to these farmers plus full payment for a small number that have verified compliance since the advance issued, it stated.