Payments have commenced this week in the National Sheep Welfare Scheme at a lower payment rate of €11.50/ewe. The €1.50/ewe cut in payments announced last week due to insufficient funds allocated has triggered a strong reaction from farmers and farm organisations (see page 4).

The payments – worth €16.44m – to 13,175 farmers announced on Monday by Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon are an advance remittance of 85% (balancing payments in May 2026) and represent just over 90% of farmers who opted to complete their actions by the date of 17 October 2025. The minister stated that a further payment run will commence in mid-December 2025 for farmers who selected the later date of 28 November 2025 to complete their actions.

Lower payment

The lower payment rate of €11.50/ewe is being described as a result of an ‘oversubscription in the scheme’. However, it appears that the allocation of €22m in funds and a payment rate of €13/ewe was based on a forecast of the number of ewes entered in the scheme declining significantly from 2024 to 2025.

There was approximately €15.86m paid to 17,239 farmers in 2023. At a payment rate of €8/ewe this equates to a payment on about 1,982,500 ewes. The €13/ewe payment announced by then-Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue with a budget of €22m was sufficient to cover approximately 1,692,307 ewes, meaning there must have been a predicted fall of over 290,000 ewes for the 2025 scheme year, or a sharp fall-off in participation expected. This was a big prediction given the higher payment rate on offer.

This did not materialise with ewe numbers on farms entered in the scheme falling by about 70,000 head and applications increasing marginally. Minister Heydon reported this week that: “as a result of the oversubscription in the scheme with 17,278 applications covering just over 1.91 million ewes, it was necessary to adjust the payment rate to €11.50/ewe, which is still a 44% increase from the €8/ewe paid under the scheme in 2024”.

It appears that there is some positive news in the payment announcement. A lower budget of €20m was announced for a sheep welfare scheme in Budget 2026, but this now seems to have been revised to €22m in the following statement.

“The issuing of €16.44m of payments under the 2025 National Sheep Welfare Scheme is crucial to the sheep sector and farm families up and down this country. It is for this reason I fought for and secured a further €22m for a similar scheme in 2026.”

Payment metrics

The cut in payments is being imposed on the additional voluntary actions introduced in 2025 for an additional payment of €5/ewe. This means that farmers who selected the two mandatory actions will continue to receive a payment of €8/ewe.

SIS payments

Minister Heydon drew attention to a 17.5% increase in payment levels when combined with payments under the Sheep Improvement Scheme.

“When combined with the €12/ewe available under the CAP Strategic Plan (CSP) Sheep Improvement Scheme, this means sheep farmers in both schemes will receive up to €23.50/ewe, an increase of 17.5% per ewe on last year’s combined payment.”

Farmer action

Minister Heydon concluded that his Department will continue to process, as a matter of urgency, all remaining cases for payment as they meet scheme criteria.

“But I would urge applicants in the scheme who have received correspondence from my Department, to respond as quickly as possible to ensure their payment can be processed.

“The Department is also reminding all sheep farmers that they should ensure they return their 2025 sheep census (will be likely issued in December) by 14 February 2026, as it is a key eligibility requirement for annual payment under both the Sheep Improvement Scheme and the National Sheep Welfare Scheme.”