merrion street

The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed TD, today announced that the payment of over €13.2 million to approximately 97,000 farmers has commenced. This money was deducted from their 2016 Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) payments under the Financial Discipline rule, and is now being reimbursed in line with the EU regulations.

Minister Creed said

I am pleased to confirm that these payments totalling €13.2 million are now being reimbursed to eligible farmers.

The Minister added that these payments

will bring the total paid to Irish farmers under the 2017 Basic Payment Scheme to €1.19 billion.

Note to editors
In the context of the annual budgetary procedure of the European Union, the financial discipline mechanism which is implemented by the Member States involves a monetary deduction from some direct payments thereby creating a financial Crisis Reserve for the European Union. The crisis reserve is intended to provide additional support for the agricultural sector in the case of major crises affecting agricultural production or distribution. In the event that the Crisis Reserve is not activated in the financial year, or it is not fully utilised, the balance not used is refunded to farmers in the subsequent financial year, hence this reimbursement.