Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 October 2024
475. Deputy Cathal Crowe asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the estimated full-year cost of returning a payment for both of two schemes combined (details supplied), based on the most recent participation figures at hand, in tabular form. [40984/24]
View answerIn Budget 2025, I secured additional exchequer funding to increase supports for primary production in the beef sector.
There are two existing schemes to support suckler beef farmers – the CSP Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme (SCEP) and the 2024 Beef Welfare Scheme (BWS).
Farmers participating in both schemes who correctly complete all the action requirements can currently expect to receive a combined payment of €200 per cow / calf pair.
No change is anticipated to current payment rates under the SCEP as a result of Budget 2025.
The additional funding that I secured will be targeted towards increasing payment rates by €25 per head under the BWS in 2025 which will allow a combined maximum payment from both schemes of €225 per cow / calf pair next year.
In order to increase BWS per head payment rates in the increments suggested by the Deputy, the total scheme budget allocation would have to increase to the amounts set out in the table below.
|
- |
Beef Welfare Scheme |
|
Increased payment per eligible calf (from €50) |
Total Scheme Cost |
|
€25 |
€28m |
|
€50 |
€36m |
|
€75 |
€44m |
|
€100 |
€52m |
|
€125 |
€60m |
However, it is important to note that the number of participants and animals eligible for payment under any beef scheme will depend on a variety of factors such as general market conditions at the time of launch, the menu of actions required to draw down the maximum payment, compliance rates for those actions and the extent to which the action options are suited to particular production systems in the target population.
Any increase in scheme funding is subject to State Aid considerations.
