Just €38m of an allocation of €100m has been paid out under the Fuel Income Support Scheme (FISS), which has been extended until the end of year as part of the Budget.
The scheme, introduced in May in response to nationwide protests over the soaring cost of fuel, allows farmers and farm contractors to recoup 20 cent on each litre of green diesel they use in the course of their work.
It initially covered the months of March up to the end of July, but will now run until December.
Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon has confirmed that around 30,000 farmers and 3,000 farm contractors have so far applied for the FISS.
Defending the uptake of the scheme, Minister Heydon said the initial €100m allocation was “an estimation in terms of green diesel usage in the agricultural sector.
He added that he wanted “to put in place a scheme very quickly to support farmers and farm contractors with the increased cost of fuel”.
He also said that the about 3,000 farm contractors who applied for the fuel-income support “represent thousands of farmers, because many farmers and 43% of our farmers have an off-farm income. From that perspective, farmers who aren’t full-time are very dependent on our contractor system”.
Minister Heydon also said that another reason why some farmers would not have been able to avail of the scheme was because it has “minimums and maximums, and there are a lot of extensive farmers in Ireland – particularly in the western part of the country – who wouldn’t be big fuel users”.
With regard to the €62m that remains unspent under the fuel support initiative, the minister said half of that figure (€31m) will go towards a fertiliser support package for farmers, with the remaining €31m made available for the scheme.
It has previously been suggested that the qualification requirements to apply for the Fuel Income Support Scheme made it difficult for some farmers and farm contractors to be approved.
In order to avail of the scheme, applicants are asked to supply their usage for the 12 months of 2025 based on receipted expenditure.
Agricultural and forestry contractors are also required to prove that they are registered for VAT, are tax compliant, and they must supply services for primary production of agricultural products (including forestry) on farm.
