The €100m Beef Exceptional Aid Measure (BEAM) fund should be bigger and farmers are only getting one third of the money needed to cover the losses sustained, co-chair of the Beef Plan Movement Eamon Corley has said.

He told the Irish Farmers Journal that the Beef Plan Movement made a submission to Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed which said that damage to farmers sustained in the September 2018 to May 2019 period was in the region of €250m.

It’s got drastically worse since then

“What’s transpired is farmers only got a small fraction of money for the damage. It’s got drastically worse since then.

“If it’s in lieu of reducing numbers, it’s not a compensation package at all.

"It’s waving a carrot at farmers and pretending to have to have done something rather than compensate them for the losses as a result of Brexit,” Corley said.

BEAM scheme

As revealed by the Irish Farmers Journal last week, payment rates of €100/head and €40/head will apply for finishers and suckler farmers respectively in the €100m BEAM scheme.

Finishers will be able to apply for a maximum of 100 animals under the scheme.

These cattle had to be over 12 months of age when they were sent for slaughter.

The proposed rate for these cattle is to pay €100/head.

For suckler farmers, they can apply for a maximum of 40 suckler cows which calved in 2018.

The proposed rate for these animals is €40/head.

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