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Some 488 farmers have withdrawn from the Beef Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP), Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue has said.
Seven farmers in Laois have withdrawn from the scheme, with the average clawback standing at €2,972.
Galway had the highest number of farmers to withdraw from the scheme, with 52 exiting the BDGP, with an average clawback of €1,296.18.
Force majeure
Minister McConalogue said a significant proportion of withdrawals each year are due to reasons such as ill health and, in such cases, force majeure, as provided for by EU regulations and in the terms and conditions of the programmes, may be applied with no recoupment of monies paid.
“However, in a number of cases annually, withdrawals are due to other reasons that will require any monies paid over the course of the programme to be repaid in accordance with the regulations.
“In some of these cases, the participant will have requested to withdraw and will have been made aware of the implications of withdrawal from the programme at this stage.
"In the remaining cases, participants will have been removed from the programme as they have repeatedly failed to meet key requirements of the programme.
“In such cases, the participant will have received correspondence enquiring as to whether they wished to continue in the programme and, if so, advising them of the actions they needed to take in order to avoid being removed.
"Where no reply was forthcoming or where the non-compliance continued, the participant was removed and my Department have made arrangements for monies paid over the course of the programme to be repaid in accordance with the regulations,” he said.
Minister McConalogue revealed the figures in response to a parliamentary question from Sinn Féin’s Matt Carthy.
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