The Department of Agriculture expects to make further payments totalling in the region of €6.3m under the Fuel Income Support Scheme in the coming days and weeks. The Department told the Irish Farmers Journal that it expects the overall payment under the scheme to be in the region of €27m.

A spokesperson for the Department said approximately €20.7m in payments are nearly fully issued and added that processing of claims is ongoing. It added that there were 32,417 farmers’ applications and in excess of 3,000 paper-based applications received from farm contractors by the deadline of 2 June 2026.

The scheme includes a payment of 20c/l for marked gas oil (MGO) usage for a five-month period in 2025. An applicant’s usage during this period was based on usage over the full 12-month period and adjusted to five months using a calculation of dividing total usage by 12 and multiplying for five.

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Payment calculation

The method of calculating payments received strong criticism from farm organisations, farmers and contractors who cited that spreading the payment calculation over the full year did not take account of peak usage during the period for which the scheme was designed to support farmers.

Opposition political parties are blaming the payment mechanism for the low level of funding drawn down with just €27m likely to be utilised from the designated fund of €100m.

Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon has defended the scheme’s performance citing that the scheme was introduced after engagement with farm representative bodies and that it implemented a straightforward, targeted scheme which delivered support payments to farmers and farm contractors quickly.

Higher payment

In terms of why a higher level of payment was not adopted given the underspend in available funds, Minister Heydon told the Irish Farmers Journal the rate of 20c/l was advertised since the scheme was first announced and “together with the excise reductions has given a real reduction in costs for the agricultural sector of the economy. Payments were also made at the rate indicated in the scheme terms and conditions and in line with the sanction received from the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation”.

He added: “The Government had made available funds of up to €100m to make sure enough funding was in place, but applications were demand led, and I have made sure that all who applied for this funding will receive the promised rate. In addition to this funding, there are also schemes in place for the fisheries and aquaculture and horticulture sectors. My department has been engaging with these sectors on these schemes.”

Commenting on why the scheme was not paid out over the entire year the minister stated: “The period of acute price increases was the five-month period mentioned and hence this length of time was used for the scheme.”

Regarding the possibility of additional payments, the Department outlined that it is “presently engaging with the Department of Public Expenditure on matters relating to Budget 2027 as is normal for this time of the year. Any decisions with regard to funding will be considered as part of this process”.