Galway Bay fm newsroom - A public meeting to discuss the Government's new €25 million Sheep Welfare Scheme will take place in Maam Cross tonight.
The scheme will be introduced this month as part of Ireland's Rural Development Programme agreed with the European Commission.
The sheep sector in Ireland makes a valuable contribution to the agri-food economy, supporting 34 thousand farm families and generating an annual output value of some €320 million.
Under the Government's recently launched Sheep Welfare Scheme, farmers will be required to chose actions from a menu to improve the overall welfare of their lowland or hill flock.
The chosen actions will then be completed over a 12 month period and in return the farmer will receive a payment per ewe, depending on the stock numbers held between 2014 and 2015.
The Galway public meeting to discuss the scheme will take place at Peacock's at Maam Cross this evening at 8.
