The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine published the list of Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) payment beneficiaries for 2021 earlier today (Tuesday, May 31).

EU member states are required to publish a list of beneficiaries of all forms of CAP funding by May 31 each year. The figures refers to the previous financial year (2021).

The annual publication on the department website 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; and the amount of payment for a particular CAP measure.

In an earlier article, Agriland outlined the top 10 CAP direct payment recipients in 2021. But which beneficiaries saw the largest direct payments in each county?

Starting with the highest recipient of direct payments in the country outright last year, this was Michael and Gabriel Hoey of Co. Dublin, who received €230,547.41.

For the remainder of Leinster, O'Shea Farms Unlimited in Co. Kilkenny saw €219,188.97 in direct payments, which was also the second highest figure for the country generally.

The top direct payment beneficiary in three other Leinster counties saw payments over €200,000.

Six counties in the province saw their top beneficiary receive between €100,000 and €200,000, leaving one county - Longford - in which the biggest beneficiary received less than €100,000.

Moving on to Munster, and the largest recipient of direct payments here was T. Brown and A. O’Donovan of Co. Cork, who saw total direct payments of 212,295.49

Four of the remaining five counties in Muster saw their biggest beneficiaries receive payments ranging from approximately €126,000 to €190,000, while one county saw its biggest beneficiary receive just under €100,000.

As for Connacht, the recipient of the highest total of direct payments in the province was Hans Weiner Meis of Co. Galway, who received €189,126.45.

Two other counties in Connacht saw their biggest beneficiary receive over €100,000 in direct payments, while the biggest beneficiaries in two other counties were just below this figure.

Finally, for Ulster and Northern Ireland, B&L Farms Unlimited of Co. Cavan received €163,695.50 in direct payments in 2021.

The biggest beneficiary in Co. Donegal also received over €100,000.