The counties that received the most in Areas of Natural Constraints (ANC) scheme payments in 2023 have been revealed from figures from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM).
A total of 98,958 farmers in Ireland received ANC payments in 2023, which was a total of €247,935,720 across 26 counties.
The figures were provided by the Minister of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue on Tuesday, February 27 in response to a question from Co. Clare TD, Cathal Crowe.
The ANC scheme, according to Minister McConalogue, “provides payments to people farming land in designated areas facing significant hardships from factors such as remoteness, difficult topography, climatic problems, and poor soil conditions”.
County Number paid Gross payment Carlow 805 €1,913,947 Cavan 4,511 €10,574,119 Clare 5,730 €14,961,938 Cork 7,356 €19,900,510 Donegal 8,297 €23,966,075 Dublin 154 €410,453 Galway 11,021 €27,815,302 Kerry 7,124 €20,532,896 Kildare 614 €1,231,159 Kilkenny 1,793 €4,209,806 Laois 1,713 €3,792,364 Leitrim 3,219 €8,548,199 Limerick 4,316 €9,523,255 Longford 2,235 €5,137,042 Louth 813 €1,551,598 Mayo 10,511 €27,626,183 Meath 1,496 €2,943,114 Monaghan 3,811 €8,038,706 Offaly 2,381 €5,161,304 Roscommon 5,299 €12,551,869 Sligo 3,653 €9,211,054 Tipperary 4,678 €11,013,828 Waterford 1,394 €3,470,467 Westmeath 2,725 €5,776,837 Wexford 1,544 €3,094,157 Wicklow 1,765 €4,979,539 Total 98,958 €247,935,720
Four counties received over €20m each, all of which are along Ireland’s western coastline.
Galway was the county that had the most farmers receiving payments under the scheme, with a total of 11,021 farmers receiving €27,815,302.
In Co. Donegal, 8,297 farmers received payments totaling €23,966,075.
Co. Cork received just under €20m, as the 7,356 farmers in the scheme were paid a total of €19,900,510.
Dublin and Kildare were the counties that received the smallest amount in ANC payments in 2023, totaling a combined €1.6m.
A total of 10 counties received payments of under €5m each, while nine counties were paid over €10m each.