Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 2 March 2023
316. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if a farmer (details supplied) in County Kerry will be accepted into the ACRES scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10632/23]
View answerI was delighted to see that so many farmers applied for ACRES, indicating their willingness to farm for the benefit of the environment and society. The submission of over 46,000 applications shows the level of interest in participating in an agri-environment scheme. The Scheme forms part of Ireland’s CAP Strategic Plan 2023-2027 which is the successor to Ireland’s Rural Development Plan 2014-2020.
I was pleased to announce yesterday that all those who had submitted valid applications will be accepted to ACRES.
Approval letters will issue in respect of valid applications, week beginning 6th March. Contracts commence from 1st January 2023, for Tranche 1 and will be for five years. Approval summaries showing mapped actions (if any) on participants’ farms will issue by end March. These will be accompanied by a species identification booklet to help farmers identify indicator species on their land that will be used in the scoring process.
For those participants in the Co-operation (CP) stream, CP Teams will begin applying the appropriate scorecards to participants’ holdings. The land will be scored over the summer months by advisors, the scores achieved will be used to calculate the payments made. Scorecards must be submitted by 31st August 2023, for Tranche 1 participants.
