Minister’s EU Farm Payment Manoeuvre Will Have Little or No Impact at Farm Level – IFA

IFA President Francie Gorman said Minister Martin Heydon’s announcement yesterday that farmers will receive 75% of their own EU payments on October 16th instead of the 70% will have little or no impact at farm level.

“There is no new money here and these EU funds which are due to farmers will still not be paid out until October 16th, which is almost two months way. Minister Heydon indicated to the media, as late as Thursday, that fast tracking payments was ‘on the table’ but what he announced yesterday is more back tracking than fast tracking,” Francie Gorman said.

The average EU payment a farmer receives under the EU schemes the Minister mentioned is just under €10,000. Farmers were due to get €7,000 of this on October 16th and €3,000 on December 1st.

“The Minister’s announcement yesterday will see the average farmer getting €7,500 on October 16th and €2,500 on December 1st. That means getting €500 of their own EU money 6 weeks earlier and not until two months’ time,” he said.

“If a farmer were to borrow €500 for the 6 weeks, the interest would be €5. That is the real value to the average farmer of this move by the Minister, and it won’t happen for almost two months,” the IFA President added.

“The Minister made no mention of the paying out EU funding allocated under EU fertiliser strategy. Under this measure the EU Commission has allocated €15m to Ireland and has allowed Member States to match it up to 200% or €30m in Ireland’s case.”

“This would leave a total fund of €45m to be allocated to farmers who have incurred exorbitant fertiliser prices in 2026. The Minister should pay this out immediately to help with cash flow,” he said.

The IFA President said that some of the other measures announced today were among the more minor requests at the meeting last week but are at least an acknowledgment of the problem.

“The Minister needs to introduce measures to encourage farmers to grow more fodder and to offset the cost of transporting fodder. In addition, supports for farmers to purchase more concentrate feed to save silage for the winter should be introduced immediately,” he said.

These are the types of initiatives that are needed urgently not just manoeuvres with EU money that’s already due to farmers.