The Department confirmed to the Irish Farmers Journal that of those 126,880 applications, 86,573 were sent through the online application system with 40,307 were paper applications sent in by post or delivered to the office in Portlaoise.

With over 126,000 applications now received by the Department it means that fewer than 6,000 applications are now expected to be sent in before the deadline.

The Department of Agriculture staff in Portlaoise, Co Laois will be working until midnight on Friday to give farmers every opportunity to have their BPS applications in on time.