Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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478. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the estimated first and full-year cost of returning a payment by amounts (details supplied) for a scheme based on the most recent participation figures at hand. [43482/19]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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The €20 million funding available under the Beef Environmental Efficiency Pilot allows for payment up to a maximum of €40 per calf, based on costs incurred and income foregone. As this exchequer funded scheme, operated under State Aid de minimis provisions, was based on costs incurred and income foregone, it is not possible to revise the payment amount.

A total of 19,135 farmers registered their interest in participating in the Beef Environmental Efficiency Pilot(BEEP) and they will qualify for payment provided they comply with the requirements to weigh each cow and calf and provide the requisite data to ICBF in accordance with the Terms and Conditions.

Some 476,432 calves were registered to these 19,131 herds in the relevant period with a potential payment of €19,057,280 should all those calves be weighed.  With three weeks remaining, 286,974 of these have had their weights recorded under BEEP to date. Payments to participants who have completed the requirements under the Pilot are scheduled to commence shortly.