Irish farmers filed 142,000 claims for their EU single payment by the time Department of Agriculture and Food offices closed on Monday night.
The farming community across Europe had until Monday at midnight to lodge their claims for the single payment which will replace all previous schemes.
It was estimated to be worth about €15,000 on average to Irish farmers for the seven schemes it will replace in the reformed Common Agricultural Policy, which has broken the link between production and direct payments.
The department had issued 160,000 forms to the farming community and believes the overwhelming majority of those entitled to the EU payment filed their forms in time.
The additional forms were sent out to cover land transfers and changes in land ownership and usage which may have occurred since 2000-2002 on which the claim for the single payment is being based.
A spokesman for the department said it reckoned that the campaign to have the forms returned in time had been one of the most successful they had undertaken.
The high rate of return will mean that farmers will be able to draw down most of the €1.3 billion which will be paid to them in December next.
Other European farmers were not as well served by their civil servants, it emerged yesterday.
The Financial Times has reported that 30,000 British farmers who were entitled to the single payment had failed to make Monday's deadline and only 108,000 of the 140,000 farmers with entitlements had applied in time.
This will mean that they stand to lose 4 per cent of the payment a day, while failure to apply by the end of the month would mean the total loss of the payment.
The Irish Farmers' Association went on the attack yesterday demanding advance notice of inspections of farms applying for the single payment.
Association president John Dillon said farmers wanted reasonable tolerance levels which took into account normal farming practices and that farm visits should be carried out by one control authority.
Mr Dillon accused the Department of Agriculture of rowing back on a commitment to simplification by former EU commissioner Dr Franz Fischler, by imposing more red tape on inspections.