The Department of Agriculture clawed back over €7.1m from 7,880 beef farmers in 2022 alone, the vast majority of which resulted from Beef Exceptional Aid Measure (BEAM) recoupments.

Some of the farmers most heavily affected by the clawback of funds had in excess of €7,400 taken back off them last year, an Irish Farmers Journal anaylsis of the newest CAP beneficiaries list shows. Repayments equated to a quarter of farmers’ direct payment cheques for 2022 in many cases.

Counties Cork and Galway saw over €650,000 each recouped from beef farmer payments last year alone, with Tipperary seeing €600,000 returned to the Department.

Another €1.5m was clawed back from farmers in Westmeath, Roscommon, Limerick and Mayo.

The BEAM scheme paid finishers €100/head and suckler farmers €40/cow in temporary aid back in 2019 when farmers were faced with rock bottom beef prices. Around 34,000 applied for funding through BEAM.

However, the scheme’s condition that those receiving funds would have to cut stocking rates by 5% in subsequent years proved controversial when some farmers did not meet the requirements.