The outcome of a State-wide check of ewe premium claims made by sheep farmers will not be known until the end of the month.
It is being conducted by the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development to determine the validity of the claims.
Department officials are expected to examine applications made by 17,000 of the Republic's 41,000 sheep farmers who were to have received payments of about £19 per animal.
These payments are being withheld pending the investigation which began in May following the ending of the foot-and-mouth restrictions put in place as a result of the one outbreak of the disease, in Proleek, Co Louth.
During the culling operations Department officials discovered discrepancies between the number of ewes they had slaughtered and the number of claims made for ewe premiums.
A similar shortfall was uncovered in south Armagh by the Northern Ireland authorities. Between the two areas claims were made for more than 10,000 ewes which did not exist.
The EU, which pays the premium, sought a check of the rest of the national flock and, according to Mr Eamon O Cuiv, Minister of State for Agriculture, so, too, did the Comptroller and Auditor General's Office, as part of the payment is from the national Exchequer.
The delay in paying the premium has caused hardship to some farmers who had been relying on the payment which, in a normal year, forms a substantial portion of sheep farm income.
However, sheep-producers in the Republic have benefited greatly from the fallout from foot-and-mouth. Because the disease has not been eradicated in Britain, no exports are allowed from there.