In moving from the old, historical headage schemes to the Single Payment Scheme, farmers were allowed more freedom to decide which particular types of farming enterprise best suited their individual holdings. Subject to the requirements of Good Agricultural and Environmental Conditions, farmers benefiting under the Single Payment Scheme and/or the Disadvantaged Areas Scheme are free to farm as they so choose. In recent years the national sheep flock has been declining and to counter this, it was decided that an income support measure should be introduced to assist farmers in maintaining sheep numbers.
The opportunity arose when, as a result of the Health Check negotiations, a provision was introduced in the SPS Regulations, which enabled Member States to utilise unused SPS funds in measures to assist vulnerable sectors and agri-environment Schemes. Ireland decided that, of the total of the €25 million available annually to this country over a three-year period, €18 million would be paid each year to support incomes in the sheep sector. It was then necessary to decide whether the income support in the sheep sector should be in the form of a headage payment or a grassland area payment. Both options were examined but the general consensus was that it was not practical to introduce a headage scheme for sheep. All farming organisations and the sheep farmers concurred with this view. This scheme has been introduced for the years 2010 to 2012 with payments based on the sheep census returns and farmers' annual SPS applications.