48. Deputy James O'Connor asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of applications received for the fuel income support scheme; if his Department will allow further entries to the scheme; the timeframe for when the applicants will be paid from the scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52303/26]

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

Separate schemes have been put in place to support fishers and specialist horticultural growers.

In total €100 million funding has been made available to support these agri-food and marine sectors.

As of the closing date of June 2nd, 32,417 farmer applications have been received while more than 3,000 paper-based applications were received from farm contractors. As the scheme closing date has passed no further applications can be made at this point.

While final processing is still on-going, it is anticipated that payments will commence issuing in the coming weeks.