Almost €25m in TB compensation has been paid to farmers by the Department of Agriculture to date this year.

Some €20.7m has been paid under the on-farm market valuation scheme so far, with €4.6m in compensation going to TB-stricken farms in Cork.

In Tipperary, €2.5m has been paid out to affected farmers, while €859,000 has been paid out to farmers in Wicklow.

In Meath, farmers received €1.4m under the valuation scheme, while Limerick farmers received €1.6m.

Income supplement scheme

Under the income supplement scheme, some €2.6m issued to farmers to date in 2022, with farmers in Cork receiving the largest amount of compensation at over €643,000.

Cork is often the county which receives the most payments, owing to the fact that it is the county with the largest number of cattle in the country.

Almost €470,000 has been paid out to date under the hardship grant payment to farmers around the country, while €321,382 has been issued to farmers in the form of depopulation grants.

The Department said that payments being made to farmers under these schemes will continue to be processed right through the Christmas period.

The Department is on track to issue record compensation payments again this year, with €25.5m issued last year.

Final figures for 2021 show that some €21.4m was issued under the on-farm market valuation scheme in 2021 and €3.2m was issued under the income supplement.

A total of €305,530 was issued in depopulation grants in 2021, while €588,463 was issued under the hardship grant last year.