CAP: Who was the top direct payment beneficiary in your county?

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has published the beneficiaries of direct payments under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for 2022.

EU member states are required to publish a list of beneficiaries of all forms of CAP funding each year.

The department must publish this list by May 31, each year. The data published in the most recent list refers to the period October 16, 2021 to October 15, 2022.

The annual publication, which is available online, includes the name of the beneficiary (which may be an individual person, company or other legal entity); the county or municipality where the beneficiary is resident/located; and the amount of payment for a particular CAP measure.

In a previous article, Agriland outlined the top 10 CAP direct payment recipients in 2022. But which beneficiaries saw the largest direct payments in each county?

Starting with Leinster, the beneficiary with the highest direct payment in 2022 was Country Crest Arable of Co. Dublin, which also received the highest direct payment in the country for the relevant period, of €237,598.88.

The next highest direct payment in Leinster for last year was for O’Shea Farms Unlimited of Co. Kilkenny, which saw a payment of €224,352.41, the second highest figure nationwide.

Following that, Godolphin Ireland UC in Co. Kildare saw direct payments amounting to €222,282.25, which was also the third highest direct payment amount nationwide last year.

Two other Leinster-based beneficiaries saw payments in excess of €200,000, namely Branganstown Farms Limited in Co. Louth (€204,431.70) and Park Farms Partnership in Co. Carlow (€202,561.41).

These two enterprises were respectively the seventh and eighth largest beneficiaries in the country last year.

The top beneficiaries in six other Leinster counties saw payments ranging between €100,000 and €200,000. Only one county in the province – Longford – saw its top beneficiary receive less than €100,000.

Moving on to Munster, and the beneficiary that saw the largest payment here was Castlecor Potatoes Limited in Co. Cork, which benefited from direct payments totalling €216,557.42. This business saw the fourth highest direct payment nationally in 2022.

The only other Munster county to see its top beneficiary receive direct payments in excess of €200,000 was Tipperary, where Lunarford Farms received €204,800.52.

In all other Munster counties, the top beneficiaries received payments between €100,000 and €200,000.

Turning to Connacht, and the top direct payment beneficiary in the province was Hans Weirner Meis in Co. Galway, with direct payments totalling €189,172.18.

In Co. Leitrim, Padraig McGuinness received direct payments in the amount of €125,341.04 for 2022.

One other Connacht county saw their top direct payment beneficiary receive over €100,000, while in two counties, the top beneficiaries received between €90,000 and €100,000.

Finally, turning to Ulster, and the top beneficiary of direct payments here was Seamus Thomas of Co. Donegal, who received €125,725.39 in 2022.

One other county in the province saw its top beneficiary receive direct payments in excess of €100,000.

Across the six counties of Northern Ireland, the top beneficiary of direct payments under the auspices of Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine was K Robinson Livestock Ltd. which received €32,864.10 in 2022.