The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon has announced the opening for applications of the 2026 National Sheep Welfare Scheme (NSWS) on Wednesday.

The scheme which has an approved budget of €22m, follows on from a similar scheme in 2025.

The structure of the scheme involves five possible actions grouped under mandatory and voluntary categories.

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The only change is that participants can now vaccinate against clostridial diseases or bluetongue virus if they select the ‘vaccination of ewes’ as one of the three mandatory measures.

Participants must complete three actions to receive the full payment of up to €13 per ewe, as in the previous year.

CAP strategic plan

Minister Heydon said: “The scheme launched today [Wednesday] is separate from but complements, the multi-annual Sheep Improvement Scheme (SIS) funded under Ireland’s CAP strategic plan until 2027.

“To date, approximately 16,700 farmers have received payments totalling €18.2m for participating in the third year of the SIS, with the balancing payment for the 2025 SIS due to issue in early May 2026. Under the 2025 NSWS, just over €21.2m has been paid to almost 16,800 participants to date,” he said.

Heydon added: “Today’s scheme consists of straightforward measures that are applicable to all types of sheep enterprises. They are practical to implement on all sheep enterprises including those not currently participating in the existing SIS.

Eligible action

“Good flock biosecurity is important for the overall improvement in health, welfare and productivity of animals, and will reduce the incidence of disease on farms. For this reason, I announced last week that bluetongue vaccination has been included as an eligible action in the 2026 NSWS,” he said.

Applications for the 2026 NSWS are separate to SIS application and must be submitted before 23.59 on 15 May and can be made by a farmer, or an approved FAS adviser acting on their behalf, using the online facility at www.agfood.ie.

The full terms and conditions of the National Sheep Welfare Scheme and other relevant scheme information are available here.