The Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers' Association (ICMSA) is urging Minister Martin Heydon to extend eligibility criteria for the scheme to support Long Established Young Farmers.

The scheme for these farmers - commonly referred to as ‘Forgotten Farmers’ – is now open for submission of online applications.

While welcoming the long-awaited opening of the scheme designed to provide support for farmers who missed out on payments during the mid-2000s, ICMSA said that the scheme as outlined is "unfairly narrow and restrictive".

The association’s deputy president, Eamon Carroll said that while the scheme’s introduction is a positive, several outstanding issues remain to be addressed.

He said it is a "matter of regret that the scheme risked excluding many deserving applicants".

Carroll, who also serves as chair of the farm and rural affairs committee, said that the association has advocated for such a scheme for many years.

"This initiative is a long time coming and will be appreciated by those who qualify," he said.

"However, the eligibility criteria are disappointingly narrow and there will be many obviously deserving cases that will not qualify, as presently set out."

To be eligible for the 'Forgotten Farmers' scheme, an applicant must have set up as the head of an agricultural holding for the first time on or before December 31, 2007.

Carroll said that a significant concern is this cut-off date, which he maintained would exclude many farmers now in their late 40s or early 50s.

“These were people who began farming during a period of economic hardship and who had limited access to any kind of young farmer supports," he explained.

"ICMSA is calling on the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine to extend eligibility to include all farmers who entered the sector before 2015 and who never received young farmer payments. 

"The minister can make this important change and ICMSA urges him to do so in the interests of basic fairness."