The Department of Agriculture had a gross budgetary underspend of €44m in 2022, according to Government’s exchequer returns.

The sum of money unspent came about following gross voted-expenditure of €1.94bn from a budget of €1.985bn.

Voted expenditure is the money allocated to the Department in each year’s budget, voted on and approved by the Oireachtas.

The €1.94bn spend covered the Department’s operational costs, expenditure on farm schemes such as TAMS, GLAS, organics and funding for organisations such as Teagasc and Bord Bia.

The detail of the €44m gross underspend is not yet known, with a Department spokesperson telling the Irish Farmers Journal that it will be published following further analysis.

“Details on expenditure will be published in due course when the 2022 appropriation account has been completed by the comptroller and auditor general,” they said.

European money

The Government’s exchequer returns for the end of December 2022 also note that the Department had a €670m European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGF) spend last year.

The Department spokesperson confirmed that the €670m related to borrowings in the fourth quarter of 2022 to facilitate the EAGF farmer payments that issue in the period October to December annually, including advance and balancing payments.

They said the Department’s annual budgetary allocation is “not sufficient to cover these payments, hence the requirement to borrow”.

“These borrowings are repaid to the Department of Finance in January on receipt of the reimbursement from the [European] Commission for the period concerned.”