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Almost 31,000 Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) applications have been made by farmers so far, of which around 90% were made online.
Some 27,525 BPS applications have been lodged through the online system, the Department of Agriculture has confirmed.
The remaining 3,431 farmers made their BPS application using the older paper-based forms.
Under EU rules, all BPS applications must be made online from next year and farmers have been queuing to avail of one-to-one help from Department of Agriculture to make the switch ahead of the 2018 deadline.
Farmers from Cavan, Longford, Roscommon and Monaghan travelled to the Department offices in Cavan on Tuesday for help submitting their BPS applications online. Among the first of 35 farmers to make the leap to online at the Cavan clinic were an 83-year-old man and an 84-year-old woman.
On Wednesday, farmers were queuing outside the door of the Drumshambo office for one-to-one help.
A wet morning drew in a bigger crowd in Leitrim, with 25 BPS applications completed by 11am.
No changes
“The vast majority of farmers had no changes to their maps from last year so they had their applications complete in a few minutes,” Brian Alcock from the Department of Agriculture told the Irish Farmers Journal.
“We had a few people who had no changes but wanted to see how they view and amend their maps online for the future.”
The one-to-one help at Department offices continues over the coming weeks. Department staff at the regional office in Cavan will be available to meet farmers between 9.30am and 5.30pm on 19 April, and on 2, 3, 9, 10, 11 and 15 May.
Staff in the regional office in Drumshanbo, Co Leitrim, will meet farmers between 9.30am and 5.30pm on 12 and 20 April, as well as 4, 5, 8, 12 and 15 May.
In Portlaoise, Co Laois, staff are available to meet farmers every weekday until the 15 May deadline, with extended evening and weekend hours as the closing date approaches.
Clinics
Department staff are also embarking on a series of one-to-one clinics at hotels in counties Kerry, Galway, Clare, Donegal, Mayo, Waterford and Cork.
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