Following IFA representation, the Department of Agriculture has agreed to allow REPS 4 plans to be continued by the legal successor when the participant dies.

Prior to this, once a REPS participant died, the REPS Plan was terminated. Monaghan IFA Rural Development Chairman Seamus Traynor said that a number of successors had approached IFA over the past year where the REPS 4 farmer had died. As REPS 4 had closed since last July, there was no scheme available to them other than the recently introduced AEOS.

Mr Traynor added that the decision by the Department of Agriculture to allow REPS 4 to continue for the five years is welcome as the payments are higher compared to the alternative AEOS scheme.