IFA sheep chair Sean Dennehy has repeated his request that Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue give farmers in the Sheep Welfare Scheme the opportunity to update their reference numbers.

Over 18,000 farmers received €14.6m through the scheme in 2020 and it remains a valuable source of income for sheep farmers.

“The IFA wants all farmers in the scheme to be provided with the opportunity to have their reference numbers brought up to date to accurately reflect the level of activity on the farm in a straight-forward process,” Dennehy said.

He said that the historic reference period meant that progressive farmers were constrained which stifled the future of the sector.