Emergency tillage crisis cash not paid to Laois farmers nearly a year after promised
Government promised money last April and has budgeted to spend it
Laois tillage farmers have yet to be paid the crisis support promised by the Government last spring for crops sown in 2023 and early last year.
The delay in paying the money agreed due to terrible weather was the subject of a Dáil question tabled by Laois TD Willie Aird. He asked the Minister for Agriculture about the reason for the delay in payment of the €100 per ha tillage assistance payment to Irish tillage farmers.
The written reply from former minister Charlie McConalogue said Budget 2025 saw the allocation of €30m in funding to support a Tillage and Horticulture payment for crops planted for the 2024 harvest. He said payment is expected to issue in quarter 1 of 2025.
He announced in April 2024 that all crops planted for harvest last year would qualify. This included all crops planted in 2023 for harvest in 2024.
Laois and Kildare tillage farmers brought Charlie McConalogue to Ballybrittas in Co Laois last year to see the crisis caused by weather for himself. Pic: Leinster Express
As a South Kildare TD, Minister Heydon represented many Laois and Kildare farmers in the middle of the crisis. A farmer from outside Athy, he was also a Minister of State in the Department of Agriculture during the last Government.