At a meeting of the Basic Payment advisory group last week, the Department of Agriculture put forward a proposed 2% cut to the Basic Payment Scheme, participants to the meeting told the Irish Farmers Journal.

The option of cutting BPS payments would be to fund the National Reserve for 2016.

Currently, the only funding for the National Reserve is the clawback from the sale of entitlements without land and from unused entitlements.

Last year, 3% of the BPS was allocated to the National Reserve, providing an estimated €24m in funding, according to Department figures.

There were 6,000 farmers in receipt of the National Reserve last year and there is virtually no funding left for 2016.

Macra na Feirme president Sean Finan welcomed the option of a 2% cut to the BPS and said it is essential to have a national reserve for 2016.

“We’ve seen the stop-start nature of the Young Farmer Scheme and that has resulted in some young farmers falling through the cracks. We don’t want a repeat of that.”

EU rules

Finan added that without the National Reserve, Ireland will be “one of the only EU countries without supports for young farmers outside of the mandatory young farmer top-up”.

There is a total of €5m left over from the Young Farmer Scheme top-up last year, which will be distributed this year.

At the meeting it was proposed that the leftover €5m be put directly into the National Reserve. However, this is not permitted under European Union rules.

It is of strategic importance that young farmers have access to a National Reserve

Macra’s Sean Finan says however, that “it is of strategic importance that young farmers have access to a National Reserve,” and that the leftover €5m will be distributed across the board to all farmers.

Farmers have already suffered BPS reductions

A spokesperson for the IFA said the organisation was opposed to any further cuts to the BPS as farmers’ payments have already suffered reductions. According to the IFA, it is “up to Minister Simon Coveney to come up with imaginative proposals as to how a National Reserve would be created this year.”

ICMSA deputy president Pat McCormack, too, opposed BPS cuts, describing them as unfair.

“In some cases we see hefty cuts to average Basic Payments in order to fund the Reserve, from which payments could conceivably be made to individuals who might be farming on a scale three or four times the average,” said McCormack.

At the time there was a strong commitment that it was a once-off

He also added that “the possibility is likely to trigger huge annoyance and anxiety amongst farmers who are facing an incredibly challenging financial year.”

When the 3% cut was made to the BPS last year, McCormack said that “at the time there was a strong commitment that it was a once-off.”

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