Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue has yet to raise the issue of funding any voluntary cow reduction scheme with Minister for Public Expenditure Pascal Donohoe.

There will be a chance for funding proposals to be raised in September during preparations for Budget 2024, Minister Donohoe told the Irish Farmers Journal.

The minister added that Government has committed to ensuring any reduction or exit scheme will be voluntary and that dairy will remain important to the agri-economy.

“Minister McConalogue will not be coming to me before September to talk about spending plans for 2024 and he, like every other Government minister, has not yet come to me with what their priorities would be for their plans for their Department for next year,” Minister Donohoe said.

“So, I can’t comment on any further plans that may be there on that matter, apart from recognising how important the dairy sector is for Irish farming and emphasising again that we have recognised that any change needs to be voluntary.”

Minister McConalogue also recently stated he is “not in a position to give a timeline” on the rollout of the dairy reduction scheme proposals under consideration by the Department of Agriculture.