Over €13.35m in Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) funds are to be reimbursed to approximately 100,000 farmers commencing today, the Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue has stated.

“I am pleased to confirm that these payments are now being reimbursed to eligible farmers,” the minister announced.

“These payments will bring the total paid to Irish farmers under the 2019 Basic Payment Scheme to over €1.194 billion,” he said.

The payment reductions were held back from farmers’ 2019 BPS payments to fill the EU’s Crisis Reserve, a fund maintained for the agricultural sector should major crises affecting agricultural production require the financing of emergency payments.

This reserve amount measured 1.4% of total BPS payments in 2019 and is being reimbursed in accordance with the EU’s financial discipline rules.