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The Department of Agriculture has published the county breakdown of the 18,593 applications to the €40/cow Beef Environmental Efficiency Pilot (BEEP) scheme.
As expected, the top counties for suckler cow numbers are also those where most farmers have applied.
Some 2,015 applications came from Co Galway, 1,739 from Co Mayo, 1,453 from Co Clare and 1,365 from Co Cork.
Low uptake
There was low uptake in Co Tipperary, which is next for suckler cow numbers, but has been overtaken by smaller suckling counties Roscommon, Kerry, Donegal and Cavan for BEEP applications.
"I expect that all of the available funding will be utilised," Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed has said in reply to a parliamentary question to Fianna Fáil agriculture spokesperson Charlie McConalogue.
Budget 2019 allocated €20m to the BEEP scheme, which works out at an average of over €1,000 per applicant.
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