Vital that fuel support funds stay within agriculture

GALWAY IFA Farm Business Representative Denis Joyce has emphasised that any unallocated funds from the €85m Fuel Income Support Scheme funding provided to agriculture must remain within the sector.

According to the Department of Agriculture, payments under the scheme are expected to come to approximately €27million, leaving up to €58million available after this round of payments.

“It is now clear that a sizeable portion of the €85m allocated under the Fuel Income Support Scheme to help the agricultural sector through the energy crisis will not be utilised,” said Denis Joyce, from Cortoon.

“However, it is absolutely vital that these funds do not return to the exchequer and instead stay with the Dept of Agriculture.”

Joyce said the energy crisis has affected costs within the farming sector, with fertiliser prices increasing alongside fuel.

“While fuel costs briefly returned to more normal levels last month, we have seen a 40 per cent increase again in recent weeks, so we may need an additional run of payments to assist with this volatility,” offered Joyce.

“Supporting farmers through a period of stubbornly high fertiliser costs has to be considered also as a logical option for some of this fund.

“There are plenty of other ways we can use these funds to support the sector through this energy crisis, but the absolute number one priority must be that these funds are fully spent within agriculture.”