1495. Deputy Martin Kenny asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of valid applications his Department has received for the fuel support scheme to date. [42751/26]

The Fuel Income Support Scheme was introduced as a targeted income support to assist farmers and agricultural/forestry contractors facing unprecedented increases in fuel costs.

As farmers and contractors were extremely busy during the recent spell of weather, I extended the deadline for the fuel support scheme until midnight on Tuesday June 2nd.

Applications are currently being processed and it will take a period of time for all the relevant information to be collated to give definitive information regarding claimant numbers.