A major pre-Budget lobby of Government ministers and TDs by the farm organisations is under way to secure a €30m national top-up to the proposed fertiliser support scheme.
There is growing pressure to nail down the additional funding ahead of the Budget, but no commitment on this has been forthcoming from the Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers.
Payments under the scheme could be based on the volume of product purchased and registered on the National Fertiliser Database, farmer representatives were told during exploratory talks this week with senior Department of Agriculture officials.
The talks examined how Ireland should pay out its €15.33m share of the €540m EU Relief Fund, which aims to tackle the hike in fertiliser and fuel costs as a result of the ongoing Middle East conflict.
Additional State funding to a maximum of 200% or around €30m – which would take the Irish fertiliser package to over €45m – is permitted to bolster the fertiliser supports under EU rules. It is estimated that the support payment will amount to €11.40/t, if based solely on the EU fund, but such a payment could be increased significantly if the full permissible State top-up is delivered.
SHARING OPTIONS