The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon will bring a memo to Cabinet tomorrow (Tuesday, April 28) on his Fuel Subsidy Support Scheme for farmers, farm contractors and fisheries.

It is estimated that around 120,000 farmers and 1,500 full-time agricultural contractors could be eligible for the fuel support package.

Minister Heydon first announced details of a €100 million fuel support package earlier this month.

The scheme will provide €20 million per month in supports and according to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) funding will be directly linked to fuel usage last year.

Farmers and agricultural contractors will benefit from a support rate equivalent to approximately 20 cents per litre of green diesel used based on verified fuel consumption in 2025

According to DAFM payments will be made through a single application process, with funding allocated based on fuel usage last year.

Out of the budget of €100 million, €15 million has also been allocated to a fuel support scheme for fisheries and aquaculture.

DAFM has outlined that payments will cover the months of March up to the end of July - which coincides with peak fuel usage on farms.

Fuel support package

The government has acknowledeged that the profitability of farm contractors, farmers and fishers "has been severely impacted by the increased costs of fuel since the start of the Middle East crisis".

Green diesel costs have almost doubled since February this year.

Green diesel cost €0.97 per litre in late February, reached €1.70 per litre by late March and is now on average €1.80 per litre.

Combined supports made up from Minister Heydon’s new Farm Fuel Subsidy Scheme of 20 cent per litre and the reduction of all the excise in green diesel of 7.4 cent per litre delivers support of 27.4 cent per litre.

According to DAFM this will equate to a potential reduction of €274 for 1,000 litres of green diesel.

More details of the scheme, including when it will open for applications are set to be confirmed by Minister Heydon and Minister Darragh O’Brien on Wednesday (April 29) morning.