merrion street

The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Simon Coveney, TD, today announced that payments due under the 2014 Beef Data Programme (BDP) will issue shortly.
Minister Coveney said “I am delighted to announce that balancing and any residual payments due under the 2014 BDP, amounting to some €2.5m, will be made before the year-end. These payments follow closely on the €30m paid last week under the Beef Data and Genomics Programme”. 
Minister Coveney stated that “the programme was introduced to improve the competitiveness of the Irish Beef Industry and the quality of the beef produced by improving the genetic quality of the National Suckler herd through the collection of essential breeding and production information”. He added “that the programme was the precursor to the 2015 Beef Data and Genomics Programme which has a budget of €52m and which saw payments commence late last week.” 
The Minister concluded by saying that “these payments demonstrate my commitment to the Suckler sector and to the importance of breed improvements within the national suckler herd”.

Note For Editors

The Beef Data Programme payment is per calf up to 50 calves. It is worth €20 for the first 30 calves and €10 for the next 20. Advance Payments totalling €7.5 million issued in June this year to approximately 32,000 suckler farmers. These payments represent the balancing 20% payment to these farmers plus full payment for a small number that have verified compliance since the advance issued.