Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon TD, has confirmed that 122,151 farmers applied online for the Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) and other area-based schemes before the 15 May deadline.

Minister Heydon commented: 'Area-based support schemes are of critical importance to farmers. One of the key milestones is the 15 May deadline and I’m delighted that so many farmers have submitted their forms on time.'

The area-based application includes a range of schemes including the Eco Scheme, Complementary Redistribution Income Support for Sustainability (CRISS), Complementary Income Support for Young Farmers (CIS-YF), Protein Aid, Straw Incorporation Measure (SIM), Areas of Natural Constraints (ANC) and the annual claims for Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) and the Organic Farming Scheme (OFS).

The Minister added: 'This figure reflects the massive effort made by farmers, FAS Advisors and by my department in assisting farmers with these schemes and their various requirements. I want to particularly acknowledge the advisory services again this year, who have worked extremely hard with their client farmers to meet a range of application deadlines in recent months.'

The Minister concluded: 'To support farmers, my department held 16 one-to-one clinics around the country. Almost 1,437 farmers were assisted at these events with a further 317 receiving direct help at the public office in Portlaoise. The Direct Payments Helpdesk of my department made and received over 6,875 calls to farmers since 1 April to help them with their applications and queries. I want every eligible farmer to maximise their payments because I and everyone in my department knows how crucial they are to farm families.'