Payments to farmers under upland sheep scheme get under way

By Ray Ryan

Thursday, December 10, 2009

PAYMENTS to eligible farmers under the new upland sheep scheme have commenced, Agriculture Minister Brendan Smith announced yesterday.

He said he expected payments worth in the region of €5 million would be made by the end of the year with the additional top-up from the remaining €2m being paid in early 2010.

"In view of the particular difficulties being experienced by Irish sheep farmers, I decided, earlier in the year, that the only funding available to me from the single farm payment national reserve would be targeted exclusively at this sector," he said.

Minister Smith said he had been consistently of the view that the sheep sector is one that needs and deserves assistance.

It was in that context that he had allocated €7m to hill sheep farmers this year and was making a further €54m available over the next three years to support incomes in the sector.

Minister Smith said he had allocated an additional €8m for sheep fencing and mobile handling facilities to assist sheep farmers in reducing labour input, as part of a targeted on-farm investment scheme.

He also confirmed that payments under the single farm payment scheme and disadvantaged areas scheme are continuing to issue, as individual cases are cleared for payment.

"To date, the combined value of the payments that have issued under these two schemes is in excess of €1.462 billion," he said.

Minister Smith also confirmed that payments due to a small number of participating farmers under the protein aid scheme, worth in excess of €220,000, have also begun issuing.

He also said the necessary on-farm verification in relation to the damaged fodder aid scheme has also begun.

This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Thursday, December 10, 2009