The first tranche of payments under the weather-related crop loss support measure are to be issued later this week, the Minister for Agriculture, Michael Creed, has said.

Of the 167 applications to the scheme some 45 will be paid this week, as further information or clarification is required in order to fully process applications, the minister said in response to a parliamentary question from Fianna Fáil's Charlie McConalogue this week.

“In a large number of cases, further information or clarification is required in order to fully process applications.

“In all of these cases, the applicants have been contacted directly by an official from my Department.

“As the further information requested is received, these cases will be examined again and subsequent pay runs will be put in place as more case are cleared for payment.”

County-by-county breakdown

Cork, Donegal and Galway were the counties with the biggest numbers of applications to the scheme, with 86, 25 and 23 applications respectively.

Of this number, 19 Cork farmers have been paid, seven farmers from Donegal have been paid and eight Galway farmers have been paid.

The scheme has a maximum compensation amount of €10,500 (€300/ha x 35ha), applying to farmers who lost over 50% of their acreage.

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