The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Simon Coveney TD, today announced the re-imbursement of €27 million to farmers which was deducted from their 2013 Single Payment Scheme (SPS) payments under the so called Financial Discipline rule.

Minister Coveney said ‘I am very pleased to confirm that the Financial Discipline deduction will be reimbursed to 2014 applicants.’  The Minister continued ‘the re-imbursement amounts to €27 million or 2.74% of the amounts subjected to Financial Discipline deductions from their 2013 SPS payment’.

Note to editors

In the context of the annual budgetary procedure of the European Union, the financial discipline mechanism which is implemented by the Member States involves a monetary deduction from some direct payments thereby creating a financial Crisis Reserve for the European Union. The crisis reserve is intended to provide additional support for the agricultural sector in the case of major crises affecting agricultural production or distribution. Under the EU Regulations, the first €2,000 payable under the Single Payment Scheme was exempted from the deduction. In the event that the Crisis Reserve is not activated in the financial year, or it is not fully utilised, the balance not used is refunded to farmers in the subsequent financial year.

View this Press Release as a PDF: DAFMPR 111/2015 (pdf 366Kb) 

Date Released: 17 June 2015