Fears of a 15% cut to schemes under the rural development programme (RDP) next year have been allayed by the Department of Agriculture.

The next CAP will be delayed and the European Commission has announced that the existing regime will be extended by a year, but with a reduced budget.

RDP is co-funded between the Department of Agriculture and the EU. It provides funding to schemes such as GLAS and ANC.

The Department has confirmed to the Irish Farmers Journal that there will be no change in the budget for RDP, which began in 2014 and ends in 2020. A spokesperson said both parties’ contributions had already been set, meaning the 15% cut proposed in the temporary budget would not apply in 2020.

However, direct payments are set to be affected. Under the proposals farm payments will be reduced by €100m.