The €100m beef fund should be paid into farmers’ bank accounts by 16 October, the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association (ICSA) has said.

ICSA president Edmond Phelan said EU rules dictated that the fund could not be paid until 16 October but added it should be “the latest acceptable date for funds to arrive in farmers’ accounts”.

Phelan welcomed the clarification on Monday 29 July on the division of the €100m Beef Exceptional Aid Measure (BEAM) and said the objective should now be to get the money to farmers promptly.

“The beef trade is deteriorating every week and this fund is only a drop in the ocean compared to the losses being sustained by farmers.”

Limit

Phelan said the upper limit of 100 head of finished cattle was disappointing. He said farmers who sold those above that number would have significant losses. If the scheme is undersubscribed, the ICSA wants to see the maximum payment limit increased.

Certain conditions in the scheme were also problematic to the ICSA, notably the requirement to reduce the production of bovine livestock manure nitrogen by 5% per herd.

“Progress with this will have to be monitored closely to ensure that compliance with this measure is achieved and we have to seek some flexibility with this. The ICSA is adamant that no farmer loses out as a result of this bureaucratic requirement,” Phelan said.

“ICSA will be insisting that the Department outlines its plans to ensure that farmers are given assistance on an ongoing basis over the period July 2020 to June 2021 to help them comply with this requirement.”