The Department received 720 applicants for the penultimate round of the Dairy Equipment Scheme in August and funding was available to meet the demand so all valid applications are likely to receive approval. Money was carried over from previous rounds of funding when the scheme was undersubscribed and also made available from previous applications that proved invalid.

The Department expect to have about €5.5 million available for applications in the last round of the scheme which closes at the end of this month.

Many farmers are waiting anxiously to hear from the Department as building work can’t commence until official approval has been received. In particular new entrants who received quota in August will be hoping to commence milk production as soon as possible and so are awaiting notification. About 200 of the 720 applications have been processed to date and have been sent to local offices for official approval to be given to farmers. The Department had to originally work through applications from previous rounds of funding before they could process applications received in August.

Commenting on the backlog IFA National Dairy Committee Chairman said: “I am calling on the Department to do whatever is necessary to speed up the processing of grant applications. This is a very time sensitive issue for both new entrants looking to start milking cows and spring calving farms that need to complete work over the winter when cows are dry.”