Farmers facing €40m clawback on ‘flawed’ BEAM scheme
IFA says the situation of farmers who signed up to the BEAM scheme in good faith being penalised, must be avoided. File Picture.
The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) says there are currently 18,000 farmers who are not achieving the 5% reduction requirement in the Beef Exceptional Aid Measure (BEAM) scheme and the discrepancy could see them having to hand back as much as €40m out of €77m in the scheme as a result.
The organisation’s president, Tim Cullinan said the requirement was “flawed” in the first instance and the matter has been worsened because marts have been curtailed under Covid-19 restrictions and farmers are unable to engage as normal with their advisers.
