Payments are underway to farmers who are signed up to the 2024 Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) and Complementary Redistribution of Income Support for Sustainability (CRISS) schemes.
The outgoing Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, confirmed today (Monday, December 2) that the balancing payments have now started.
An estimated €270 million will issue to farmers from today in the form of a balancing payment and according to the minister 98% of eligible applicants are “now in receipt of a payment under this scheme”.
The start of the BISS and CRISS balancing payments will bring the total paid under the 2024 Scheme to €807 million with 116,449 farmers now in receipt of a payment.
Minister McConalogue said: “The BISS is designed to provide a direct income support to Irish farmers to underpin their continued sustainability and viability.
“This €807 million, paid under the 2024 BISS and CRISS, is a vital support for farm families across the country and to the overall rural economy.”
CRISS meanwhile aims to “redistribute CAP funds from larger farms to medium and smaller sized farms”.
Payments
Separately, Minister McConalogue also confirmed that payments under the 2024 Complementary Income Support for Young Farmers (CISYF) will also start today.
This is a payment made to farmers under the age of 40 who “are educated in agriculture to help them succeed in farming”. It can be paid for up to five years.
A total €31 million is being paid out under this scheme today to 5,584 young farmers.
The minister said: “Supporting young people to kick start their careers in farming is important not only to those individual young farmers but to the sector at large as they are so important to its future.
“To help them succeed in their businesses, I trebled the value of the young farmers payments in this current CAP programme and I am glad to see many young farmers now benefitting from the scheme.”
It is understood that farmers will see the payments in their bank accounts “in the coming days” and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) is continuing to process all of the remaining cases for payment as any outstanding queries are addressed.”
Minister McConalogue has urged any farmers with “outstanding queries” to get in contact with DAFM as soon as possible in order to get their payments.