The Department of Agriculture requires an extra €32m in funding to finance farm schemes in 2019, namely BEAM, TAMS and GLAS.

In total, the Department has requested an additional €19.4m from the Exchequer to finance its spending in 2019. It plans to spend €82.4m more than budgeted but this will be offset by €41m in additional receipts and €22m in savings.

Following approval from the Department of Finance, Minister Creed was before the Oireachtas agriculture committee seeking approval for the revised estimates.

Up to €78m will be paid out under the Beef Exceptional Aid Measure (BEAM), with €28m coming from the Department and €50m from the EU. To finance its portion, the Department requires €18m in new money, with the remaining €10m coming from savings in other schemes.

The Minister said the majority of this, €8m, would come from the Beef Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP) and Beef Environmental Efficiency Pilot (BEEP).

An additional €7m is being sought for TAMS. Minister Creed said this was necessary to ensure payments continue as the €17m allocated has been fully exhausted.

Under GLAS the Minister said a further €7m was being sought to ensure all farmers could be paid the 85% advance payment rate. Some 43,000 farmers have received their advance payment, with 2,200 yet to receive payment.

Normally the rate is 75% but owing to the exceptional circumstances in 2019 the European Commission allowed for a higher rate of payment.

Investment in border controls in preparation for Brexit means the Department requires an additional €30m. The World Food Programme has also requested a €20m food aid donation be made earlier than planned.

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