Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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547. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the amount spent on the sheep welfare scheme; if there has been underexpenditure on this scheme; and if he has considered a top-up payment to successful applications. [32083/17]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Last December the Sheep Welfare Scheme was launched under the Programme for Government in which there was a commitment to introduce a scheme for sheep farmers under the Rural Development Programme with a budget of some €25 million in 2017. The scheme provides support of €10 per ewe to farmers who undertake actions which make positive contributions to flock welfare.

The scheme represents a clear acknowledgement of the contribution the sheepmeat sector makes to the Irish Agri-Food industry, which in 2016 saw an increase in exports of sheepmeat of 3% in volume and 4% in value terms to €240 million. This scheme will make a vital contribution to ensuring the continuing viability and sustainability of the sheep sector in Ireland. There are also a variety of existing supports available to sheep farmers under the BPS, GLAS, TAMS, Knowledge Transfer and ANC schemes.

Payments have not yet commenced, but are scheduled to do so this autumn. Any underspend will not be fully quantified until all payments to applicants for their actions in the first year of the scheme have been completed. The details of this scheme, including the actions to be carried out by applicants and the amount of payment to participants, were approved by the European Commission after much negotiation in 2016. It is not possible under the terms of the scheme to issue top up payments to successful applicants.