Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 26 October 2023
67. Deputy Michael Moynihan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if the agri-climate rural environment scheme, ACRES, tranche 2 is open for applications; and how many places will be made available on the scheme. [46865/23]
View answerWhat plans has the Minister to open tranche 2 of the agri-climate rural environment scheme, ACRES, and is any date set for the opening of such a scheme?
I thank Deputy Moynihan for raising this. I am aware there has been significant industry interest in the Deputy's constituency in the agri-climate rural environment scheme, ACRES, and that the Deputy is keen to ensure that continues to be facilitated.
As the Deputy will be aware, ACRES is the central agri-environmental measure in Ireland's Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, strategic plan. We have allocated €1.5 billion to it over the scheme lifetime. This is the largest amount ever committed to an agri-environment scheme. Through that, it will play a huge role in driving environmental improvements and, importantly, providing significant and crucial income support to farm families as well.
Intake into the scheme is phased in tranches to spread the workload on advisers and to enable them to allocate sufficient time for the preparation of applications, the completion of the farm sustainability plan and selection of appropriate actions.
Tranche 1 of ACRES opened for applications on 17 October 2022 and remained open until 7 December 2022 with 46,000 applications received. We worked hard to ensure that 46,000 applicants were accepted on to the scheme and able to participate fully in ACRES this year.
Following budget 2024, I have increased the allocation for ACRES by €40 million, bringing the total 2024 scheme allocation to €200 million, a substantial increase on this year's budget. The provision of additional funding will allow us to deliver on the Government’s commitment to have 50,000 farmers participating in ACRES. An additional 4,000 farmers will be accepted into the second tranche of the scheme.
The same three-step process that applied to the first tranche will also apply to tranche 2. This includes the submission of an expression of interest by farm advisers on behalf of their clients and the preparation and submission of a farm sustainability plan. The final step is the submission of the ACRES applications.
I am pleased to confirm that the expression of interest stage of ACRES tranche 2 is now open and that the Department's online portal for the submission of farm sustainability plans will open shortly. In the event of a higher number of applications being received, a ranking and selection process will be applied based on the extent of the environmental benefit to be delivered. I would encourage all interested farmers to get in contact with an approved ACRES adviser as soon as possible so that they can commence some of the associated preparatory work at the earliest opportunity.
I acknowledge the work that was done to make sure the 46,000 farmers were accepted onto tranche 1. A number of farmers have been waiting this year. I also welcome the expressions of interest because I know an awful lot of work was done to get funding and everything else in place. I think the answer to my next question is probably in the negative. It concerns tranche 1 of the scheme and the ability to amend the scheme when something fairly substantial has arisen that was not included. It is a simple question but it is a major issue for them. Is there any possibility of amending the scheme at this late stage rather than them withdrawing from the ACRES and going into the second tranche? The Minister said that depending on the number of applicants, it is impossible for him to guess how much will be put into it but he might confirm how much is in the overall envelope for tranche 2.
I wish to raise the two streams of ACRES - corporation and general. This was generally done correctly but some of them were wrongly allocated. Many of those wrongly allocated were put into the right allocation, which was the corporation applications, but some of them are still outstanding. It is particularly affecting situations where holdings are designated as special areas of conservation are not scored or paid in ACRES. This has been picked up recently. Is it possible for these holdings that were wrongly classified as general to be moved to the corporation stream because the holdings in question have already scored and this would lead to eliminating the proposed loss of income for these farmers? This can be corrected. It does not affect many farmers but it is really important to those it does affect. Could the Minister look at that?
Regarding the terms and conditions of the scheme, it was laid out very clearly at the start that when plans were submitted, it would not be possible to change them. The logistical challenge of having to administer 46,000 this year, as opposed to 30,000 that had been planned for, puts additional pressure on the system. This is a real challenge. Where it is possible to do things, they have been done but it is simply not possible to change people's plans and this was laid out very clearly at the start in terms of the application process.
I know there will be a strong appetite for more to come in if we have more applicants than we have funding for. There has been a 50% increase in funding for our CAP projects this time around from the national co-funding perspective but that does not mean that there is an unlimited pot either. The profiling for ACRES is 50,000 within that CAP value plan. Obviously, if there is more, it is something I will consider but I must work within the budget I have.
With regard to Deputy Conway-Walsh's question, I am aware of a number of cases. A small number of farmers have been in touch with me in that regard. It is something on which I am engaging with a team to explore further. I do not know what is possible there but I am aware of it and am engaging with regard to examining it.
Briefly, on tranche 1, is it the intention of the Department that those funds would be paid in 2023 for those who applied? How far along the road is the Department with regard to that process?
Yes, it is. The Department is working hard to ensure we pay as many as possible. Previously GLAS would have been at full tilt. During the latter stages of the GLAS programme where farmers would have been following through in terms of years three, four and five, the maximum payment rate that was achieved in any one year involved 85% of GLAS participants because there are always some outstanding issues. If somebody had an issue with his or her basic income support for sustainability, it meant he or she could not be paid his or her GLAS. You will have recurrent issues like that. In previous years when the scheme was fully up and running, 85% was achieved. You would not expect to be able to reach the full 85% being paid this year given that there are probably a few other issues in the first year that you would not see in years two, three and four. The Department is liaising with farmers and their advisers around any issues they see with the objective of paying as many as possible their advance payment before the end of this year and the remaining payment at the start of next year.
