Up to €12m of TAMS I EU grant aid could be lost to Irish farmers if it is not claimed before the 31 August deadline.

Farm organisations lobbied the Department of Agriculture for an extension to the deadline and the Department raised the issue with the EU Commission.

However, the indications this week from Brussels are that no extension will be granted. The deadline for the payout of grant aid is mid-October. This is also the start date of the EU’s financial year. Recent figures from the Department of Agriculture show that there were approximately 2,600 valid applications to the Sheep Fencing/Mobile Handling Equipment Scheme. Of these, 1,042 have been paid and a further 130 farmers have applied for their payment.

However, that left some 1,400 farmers having received approvals but who have not completed the work and applied for payment. Some of these applicants are likely to rush now to complete work and submit claims for payment before the end of the month.

Fencing contractors report they have a lot of work booked in for coming weeks.