A total of 809 farmers were deemed to be ineligible to apply for the forgotten farmers grant, called the Long Established Young Farmers Scheme.

The Department of Agriculture received 1,254 applications under the scheme and following processing, some 445 were approved for payment.

“Each successful applicant received the maximum payment of €5,000 as provided for under the terms and conditions of the scheme,” Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon said in response to a parliamentary question from Sinn Féin’s Martin Kenny TD.

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On 11 December, payments began to issue to farmers who were accepted into the scheme.

Definition

The long-established young farmers, commonly referred to as forgotten farmers, is a group defined as young farmers who were under the age of 40 in 2015, had commenced in agriculture prior to 2008, did not receive young farmer Installation Aid and were not eligible for young farmer supports under the Common Agricultural Policy from 2015 due to the date they had first set up in agriculture.