730. Deputy Martin Kenny asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine for a breakdown of the number of farmers and agri-contractors that applied for the fuel support scheme by county; and the rate of payment. [45134/26]

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.

My Department is currently processing the applications received and it will take a period of time for all the relevant information to be collated to allow definitive information regarding claimant numbers and payment rates.

However, based on preliminary analysis 32,417 farmers have applied for the scheme through the online application.

Separately, my Department has received in excess of 2,000 paper applications, the majority of which are from agricultural/forestry contractors, but analysis of the correspondence received is still on-going.

These numbers will likely change for a number of reasons;

• Duplicate applications

• Ineligible claims, for example as per the scheme terms and conditions a minimum payment of €100 per applicant will apply

The county breakdown for the farmer applications is set out below, the breakdown for contractors is not yet available.

Rates of payment have not yet been finalised as processing of applications is still ongoing.