What's the breakdown of dairy beef scheme payments per county?
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon announce earlier today (Wednesday, November 26) that payments under the National Dairy Beef Weighing Scheme 2025 have commenced.
In total, over €4.09 million has begun issuing to some 8,153 participating farmers. The payments are made on a total of 204,739 calves.
The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has also confirmed the reduction in the number of eligible calves under the scheme from 50 to 31.
The core action for the National Dairy Beef Weighing Scheme was the weighing of eligible calves by November 1, 2025, for which there was a payment of €20 per eligible calf.
Like the National Beef Welfare Scheme (NBWS) and the National Sheep Welfare Scheme (NSWS), the National Dairy Beef Weighing Scheme was also oversubscribed.
As a result of the over-subscription of the scheme in the order of €1.4 million, the maximum number of calves payable under the scheme has been reduced to 31 calves, the department confirmed.
The department has provided a county-by-county breakdown of the applications and payments, as follows:
| County | Applications | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Carlow | 147 | €74,851 |
| Cavan | 278 | €129,397 |
| Clare | 335 | €150,875 |
| Cork | 1,461 | €757,631 |
| Donegal | 200 | €94,499 |
| Dublin | 14 | €6,620 |
| Galway | 592 | €262,175 |
| Kerry | 377 | €179,193 |
| Kildare | 85 | €46,032 |
| Kilkenny | 449 | €253,900 |
| Laois | 272 | €139,124 |
| Leitrim | 31 | €12,608 |
| Limerick | 598 | €313,408 |
| Longford | 165 | €73,840 |
| Louth | 82 | €39,479 |
| Mayo | 207 | €89,480 |
| Meath | 270 | €136,917 |
| Monaghan | 249 | €111,910 |
| Offaly | 351 | €183,497 |
| Roscommon | 190 | €86,918 |
| Sligo | 85 | €39,010 |
| Tipperary | 865 | €476,089 |
| Waterford | 255 | €139,031 |
| Westmeath | 230 | €109,614 |
| Wexford | 279 | €143,586 |
| Wicklow | 86 | €42,498 |
| Totals | 8,153 | €4,092,183 |
Co. Cork saw by far the most payments of any county, with €757,631 to be paid to 1,461 farmers.
Co. Tipperary saw the second-highest number of payments, with €476,089 to be paid to 865 farmers.
Co. Limerick, meanwhile will see payments totalling €313,408 for 598 farmers.
Counties Galway and Kilkenny will also see payments totalling over €200,000 each, with €262,175 and €253,900 respectively.
10 counties (Cavan, Clare, Kerry, Laois, Meath, Monaghan, Offaly, Waterford, Westmeath and Wexford) will see payments exceeding €100,000 each.
The county that will see the smallest amount of payment is Co. Dublin, with €6,620 for 14 farmers.
€12,608 will be directed to 31 farmers in Co. Leitrim, while 85 farmers in Co. Sligo will receive €39,010.
Oversubscription
The reduction in the number of payable calves in the scheme, and therefore a reduction in expected payments, has been criticised by farm organisations.
The Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers' Association (ICSA) described as "outrageous" the reduction in eligible calf numbers.
Sean McNamara, the association's president, said: "Oversubscription should be treated as a success, not an excuse to slash payments. If more farmers sign up, then the department should have contingency funds in place to ensure full payment.
"It is ridiculous to expect farmers to budget on a scheme only to get hit with a payment 40% lower than expected," McNamara added.
