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The European Commission announced this Wednesday that it would refund €444m in unused crisis reserve contributions to EU farmers, with Ireland receiving €13.4m of this.
"Even though the agricultural sector faced critical situations this year, such as extreme weather during the summer, it was not necessary to use the crisis reserve in 2018," the Commission said in a statement.
Additional support measures were funded through the existing CAP budget.
The crisis reserve is made up of deductions from direct payments over €2,000. Member states may reimburse farmers from 1 December.
The crisis reserve introduced in the 2013 CAP reform has never been used and has been returned to farmers every year since then.
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