Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) livestock chair Brendan Golden said it is "inconceivable" that Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue would allow letters to be issued to suckler and beef farmers in the coming days demanding the repayment of BEAM scheme clawbacks with the threat of interest charges.

He added that it’s a clear failure of the BEAM scheme and its administration that 11,000 farmers have, or will have, €18m clawed back from them, primarily as a result of poor scheme design.

The Minister must move immediately to resolve the BEAM scheme issues for farmers, Golden said following a meeting with senior Department of Agriculture officials.

Data

Figures at the end of the latest reference period show that in the region of 7,500 more farmers have not met the 5% requirement and are liable to have another almost €13m clawed back.

This follows the clawback of over €5m from over 3,500 farmers last year.

Payments for suckler cows must be increased to €300/cow

“Suckler and beef farmers have seen the value of current beef prices completely eroded by production cost increases.

"This situation has been further compounded by the war in Ukraine. We have had further input cost inflation and the new concern of availability for some of our key inputs,” he said.

Golden called on the Minister to act as a matter of urgency to address this issue once and for all.

Repayment facilities

Golden argued that the Minister must provide extended repayment facilities for farmers, with no interest charges.

"We can see now the full extent of the money being taken from the pockets of suckler and beef farmers.

"This must be committed as part of further funding for targeted schemes for suckler cows and cattle-rearing and -finishing farmers," he said.

He said payments for suckler cows must be increased to €300/cow and a cattle-rearing and -finishing scheme that returns €100/animal must be put in place.

"These monies taken from farmers will require additional funding for these schemes," he added.

Golden concluded by saying that the Minister and his officials have had over six months to put in place structures to minimise the impact on farmers.

"All farmers who opted to defer in the scheme must be allowed use whichever reference period works best for them and force majeure cases must be fairly dealt with," he added.