Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 October 2024
476. Deputy Cathal Crowe asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the estimated full-year cost of returning a payment for a scheme (details supplied), based on the most recent participation figures at hand, in tabular form. [40985/24]
View answerBudget 2025 sent a strong message of support for farmers engaged in the production of dairy beef calves.
Earlier this year, I published a 10-point plan to develop and support our growing Dairy Beef sector. To further encourage this development, I am doubling the current payment per eligible calf to €40. As my aim is to encourage greater integration of the dairy and beef sectors, the targeting of this allocation is subject to further discussion, including consultation with stakeholders.
Under the existing CSP Dairy Beef Welfare Scheme (DBWS), the current payment rate of €20 per eligible calf is subject to a maximum of 50 calves per herd for each of the four scheme years (2024 to 2027). Payments for scheme year one (2024) will be made in March 2025 and annually thereafter until 2028.
In order to increase DBWS 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.
|
- |
Dairy Beef Welfare Scheme |
|
Increased payment per eligible calf |
Total scheme budget |
|
€20 |
€10.25m |
|
€22.50 |
€10.75m |
|
€25 |
€11.25m |
|
€27.50 |
€11.75m |
|
€30 |
€12.25m |
It is important to note that the number of applications and animals eligible for payment under any Department 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, variations in compliance rates for those actions and the extent to which the action options are suited to individual production systems in the target population.
Any increase in scheme funding is subject to State Aid considerations.
