Two-thirds of farmers fail to overturn decisions on agriculture supports

Seán McCárthaigh

Only one in three farmers won or were partially successful in appeals against decisions of the Department of Agriculture over their eligibility for a range of financial support schemes last year.

New figures published by the Agriculture Appeals Office show that 34 per cent of farmers had a positive outcome to their cases during 2025, with their appeal either being upheld, partially allowed or the Department of Agriculture revising its decision

It was the lowest rate of successful appeals in the past decade, which reached as high as 48 per cent in 2023.

The latest annual report of the AAO, which is based in Portlaoise, Co Laois, revealed that 48% of appeals last year were disallowed while 18% of cases were either withdrawn, invalid or out of time.

The overall number of appeals submitted by farmers last year was down 14% on 2024 figures – an annual reduction of 66 to 417.

The AAO said the figures were in line with the annual reduction in the number of appeals since the figures peaked in 2021 with 809 cases.

It claimed the downward trend in the number of appeals was likely to be linked to greater awareness among farms of the importance of complying with the terms and conditions of various schemes.

The AAO noted that the move to online applications had resulted in the identification and correction of errors at an early stage.

The number of cases completed by the AAO also fell by 23% to 488 – the lowest annual total over the past ten years.

Although there was a reduction in the number of appeals officers, the AAO said the average time taken to close an appeal in 2025 was 80 days which was within its three-month target.

The highest number of new appeals received by the AAO last year came from farmers in Galway (48), followed by Cork (42), Kerry (33) and Mayo (28).

The lowest number were from Dublin (2), followed by Kildare (3), Carlow (4) and Offaly (5).

The highest number of new appeals related to the Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme, which provides support to beef farmers to improve the environmental sustainability of their herd with 142 cases – more than a third of all new appeals in 2025.

Other schemes to be the subject of a large proportion of complaints included the Basic Income Support for Sustainability with 65 appeals and the Targeted Agriculture Modernisation Scheme with 61.

The AAO said it also worked on the implementation of significant legislative changes last year which will establish an independent panel to review decisions of appeals officers which replaces work previously undertaken by the AAO director.

Last year, the AAO director either fully or partially changed eight out of 20 reviews of decisions of appeals officers which had been sought by farmers.

The director upheld the original decision of appeals officers in all three cases where a review was sought by the Department of Agriculture.

The AAO said there was a need for the Department of Agriculture to ensure that the terms and conditions of all schemes were “unambiguous and have clear definitions and eligibility requirements.”

It also recommended that the department should consider issuing bulletins to participants in multi-annual schemes about what must be achieved in the year ahead

The AAO said farmers should also be informed by the department of the next steps they could expect after the receipt of a decision on their appeal.

At the same time, it urged farmers to familiarise themselves with the terms and conditions of various schemes before submitting their claims.

In cases where farmers were uncertain, the AAO said they should consider engaging a professional advisor.