How much were BISS payments worth to your county in 2024?
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon has confirmed that Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) payments were worth over €688 million last year.
The minister was responding to a parliamentary question from Sinn Féin TD Conor D. McGuinness.
BISS replaced the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) under the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in 2023.
Minister Heydon said that the payment is designed to provide a direct income support to Irish farmers to underpin their continued sustainability and viability.
"While BISS replaced BPS in 2023 as part of the new CAP, some Pillar 1 funding was allocated to the Complementary Income Support for Sustainability (CRISS) as well as BISS. Therefore, direct county comparisons between BPS and BISS will show differences," he said.
The amount of funding distributed to each county under BISS since its introduction can be seen in the following table:
| County | 2024 BISS payment total | 2023 BISS payment total |
|---|---|---|
| Carlow | €11,951,400 | €12,229,514 |
| Cavan | €20,133,221 | €20,009,955 |
| Clare | €28,329,480 | €27,913,532 |
| Cork | €85,690,275 | €86,219,045 |
| Donegal | €38,076,559 | €36,880,125 |
| Dublin | €4,925,088 | €4,944,086 |
| Galway | €51,003,189 | €50,544,889 |
| Kerry | €42,708,864 | €41,369,480 |
| Kildare | €16,031,008 | €16,318,988 |
| Kilkenny | €26,373,517 | €26,868,563 |
| Laois | €19,666,917 | €20,078,128 |
| Leitrim | €13,273,501 | €12,816,677 |
| Limerick | €28,395,348 | €28,302,359 |
| Longford | €10,732,608 | €10,772,179 |
| Louth | €9,702,365 | €9,889,250 |
| Mayo | €46,334,704 | €44,948,179 |
| Meath | €27,582,841 | €28,050,912 |
| Monaghan | €15,079,196 | €15,300,592 |
| Offaly | €18,540,259 | €18,760,008 |
| Roscommon | €23,590,597 | €23,384,194 |
| Sligo | €15,821,036 | €15,389,231 |
| Tipperary | €50,258,016 | €50,989,278 |
| Waterford | €19,871,787 | €20,048,387 |
| Westmeath | €18,268,933 | €18,236,329 |
| Wexford | €29,873,279 | €30,503,919 |
| Wicklow | €16,345,056 | €16,276,123 |
| Total | €688,559,044 | €687,043,922 |
The figures show that Cork received the highest total payments under BISS in 2024 at almost €85.7 million, which was down on the previous year (€86.2 million)
Galway was in second position on €51 million, closely followed by Tipperary €50.2 million, while Mayo took fourth place with €46.3 million.
Dublin was the county with the lowest amount of payments at €4.9 million.
Minister Heydon added that BISS payments for this year will commence in October 2025.
The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) previously confirmed that a total of 123,705 applications for BISS and other area-based schemes were submitted this year.
This figure is down from 124,274 scheme applications in 2024.
Cork was again the county with the highest number of applications at 12,181, followed by Galway on 11,603 and Mayo with 10,942.
