No financial provision has been made for a voluntary dairy reduction scheme in Budget 2024.
Speaking at a press briefing earlier, Minister for Agriculture Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue confirmed no funds have been set aside.
Speculation on the introduction of such a scheme has been ongoing since it was included in a suite of recommendations from the Food Vison Dairy Group on how to tackle greenhouse gas emissions from the sector.
The Minister had previously suggested such a scheme could be rolled out next year and that cow numbers in 2022 would be used as a baseline for such a scheme.
Mr McConalogue said today there are many measures in the Budget for next year which are going to significantly contribute to reducing emissions.
He said the proposal for a voluntary dairy reduction scheme has faced significant opposition from the majority of the farmer representative organisations and it is not provided for in next year's Budget.
