Big push on to restore ANC cash to pre-crash payment rates
WESTERN farm leaders have this week called for the restoration of ANC [Areas of Natural Constraint] payments to pre-financial crash rates.
Sixteen-years on from the ANC [once known as ‘headage’] cuts in 2009 – as part of a huge range of public expenditure cuts after the threatened collapse of the banks – the annual payments of approximately €250 million are still €50 million short of what they were in 2008.
“If politicians across the Western Seaboard could deliver one boost for farmers in the region, then the restoration of the ANC payments to the €300 million mark, would be one of the most meaningful ways of sending out a confidence message for agriculture in the region,” Connacht IFA Chair, Brendan Golden told the Connacht Tribune.
He said that given the recovery in the Irish economy over the past decade or so, it was hard to credit that the ANC payments had not been fully restored to farmers, and especially so in the contest of the lower farm incomes in the western region.
“A return of the €50 million taken in the ANC payments back in 2009 is surely not too big of an ask as Budget 2026 is being prepared. This is something we want our local TDs and Senators to deliver for farmers in the West,” said Brendan Golden.
Galway IFA Chairman, Stephen Canavan, told the Farming Tribune that it was almost beyond belief that the ANC payments had not been restored to the figure that was in place in 2008.
“And even by bringing the overall figure back to what it was in 2008 – roughly €300 million – this not take into account the impact of inflation over the past 16-years and the huge increase in costs,” said Stephen Canavan.
According to figures released by then Minister for Agriculture, Charlie McConalogue, in 2024, ANC payments for 2023 totalled almost €248 million, with Galway’s 11,000 farmers the top beneficiaries on €27.8 million – an average payment of just over €2,500.
The return of the ‘lost €50 million’ would put an extra €5.5 million back in the pockets of Galway farmers, increasing their average payment by c. €500 to €3,000.
Almost the same figures apply to Mayo farmers, with 10,500 farmers from that county sharing €27.6 million in ANC payments. Farmers in other western counties also rely heavily on ANC monies: Roscommon, €12.6 million; Leitrim, €8.5m; Sligo, €9.2m; Clare, almost €15m; Donegal €24m; Kerry, €20.5m; and Cork, €19.9m.
A partial restoration of ANC payments was sanctioned in 2018 [€25m] but since then no inroads have been made in bringing the payment levels back to the ‘pre-crash’ national figure of €300m.
Pictured: Galway IFA Chairman, Stephen Canavan