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IFA president Joe Healy is calling for changes to be made to the €100m BEAM scheme to prevent an underspend.
“It would be an absolute scandal if Minister Creed allowed bureaucracy and restrictions to prevent farmers from drawing down all of the €100m. Livestock farmers are in a desperate income crisis,” Healy said.
On Wednesday, the Department of Agriculture confirmed that 33,973 farmers had applied for the scheme. This accounts for €77.54m of the overall fund worth €100m.
Top-up
Responding to a question from the Irish Farmers Journal at the National Ploughing Championships on the possibility of a top-up to farmers who had already applied for the scheme, Varadkar said the Government would be watching the uptake of the € 100m scheme.
I’d hate to see us giving any of that money back
“We’ll have to see where we get to in the next couple of weeks but what I would say is that there is €100m there on the table to support the incomes of beef farmers, half from the Government, half from the European Union. I’d hate to see us giving any of that money back,” Varadkar said.
Changes
IFA livestock chair Angus Woods made a number of suggested changes to the scheme, including extending the payment period beyond 12 May or increasing the payments rates on suckler cows to €80/cow.
He also suggested removing the requirements of the scheme, including lifting the 5% stocking rate reduction.
The scheme has been extended but closes at 5pm Friday 20 September.
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