The Department of Agriculture will have to decide who is eligible to apply for the €100m Brexit compensation fund for Irish beef farmers, a source close to European Commissioner for Agriculture Phil Hogan has told the Irish Farmers Journal.

The source also said that it will be up to the Department to devise the terms and conditions of the €100m scheme.

"In devising the scheme, the Department will have to decide who is eligible and on what basis they will calculate the amount of aid to be paid to eligible applicants,” the source said.

“The scheme will then be opened to eligible farmers and, once applications under the scheme are approved, the Department can pay the money,” the source said.

Regulations

While a political agreement has been made in terms of a support fund for Irish beef farmers, the legislative work to bring that fund to fruition for farmers has to be put in place.

The European Commission will put €50m in to the fund and the Irish Government has to match that to bring it to €100m.

Next steps

The Commission will shortly adopt what is known as an implementing regulation – the legal instrument by which the money is made available under the Common Market Organisation (CMO) regulation.

This legal instrument will set out the conditions under which the €100m fund can be made available. The Irish Farmers Journal understands that these conditions have not been decided yet.

Once the implementing regulation has been adopted by the Commission, it then has to be voted on by the member states in a management committee. It will be following this committee approval that the Department of Agriculture can devise the scheme.

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