Farmers participating in the locally led hen harrier scheme will start to receive payments this week.

According to a Department of Agriculture spokesperson, these are the first of several batches of payments that will be made before the end of 2018 to participating farmers under the €25m programme.

The programme is a conservation measure for the hen harrier species and focuses on land in special areas of conservation which contain the most important breeding areas for hen harriers in Ireland.

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The payments now being made are results-based payments for the habitat quality delivered by the farmers during the 2018 breeding season.

The Department spokesperson said the first payment run sees payments totalling just over €500,000 to the first 190 participants under the hen harrier programme. A total of 629 farmers are expected to be paid in the coming weeks.

Payments are also being made for the 2018 scheme year for participants in the Burren Programme.

It is expected that around €730,000, representing 85% of the total due, will be paid to participating farmers in the form of habitat-based payments before the end of the year. There are now 331 farmer participants in the Burren Programme.