Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 12 December 2023
619. Deputy Michael McNamara asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason a person (details supplied) in County Clare who has received the 2023 single farm payment is not allowed by the Department’s computer system to apply for ACRES tier 2 scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54928/23]
View answerThe Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme, or ACRES, is the central agri-environment climate measure in Ireland’s CAP Strategic Plan (CSP) 2023-2027. It is a flagship agri-environmental project with funding of €1.5bn committed over the scheme lifetime. This is the largest amount ever committed to an agri-environment scheme. ACRES will play a huge role in driving environmental improvements while also providing crucial income support to farm families.
The terms and conditions for the second tranche of the scheme have been published and are now available at gov.ie - Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) (www.gov.ie). As stated in this document, one of the eligibility requirements for a farmer to participate in Tranche 2 of ACRES is the submission of a Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) application for 2022. A further requirement is that all lands must also be declared in the applicant’s 2023 Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) application (and declared on the applicant’s BISS application for all subsequent years of participation). The person named does not have a valid BPS application submitted in 2022 and therefore will not be eligible to apply for Tranche 2 of ACRES.
The processing of applications and scheme payments requires data inputs from other areas of my Department. One of the critical data sources for the administration of ACRES is the Basic Payment Scheme data. To ensure the delivery of Tranche 2 in line with the committed timeframe the most complete data set was required early in the planning process. This information enabled my Department to determine the ACRES stream each applicant is allocated to, i.e. ACRES General or ACRES Co-Operation, and to allow IT system development. The most complete data set available at the time of system development was the 2022 BPS data, making this a necessary requirement in relation to eligibility for ACRES.
