Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 17 January 2024
1213. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will consider reviewing his Department's recent decision to award ACRES-CP payments to farmers in the scheme in February 2024 instead of December 2023, given that this decision may cause undue financial hardship to farmers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [56887/23]
View answerIn line with the commitment in the Programme for Government, a flagship environmental scheme, namely the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES), was launched in 2022. There was exceptional demand for entry into the Scheme, which demonstrates the interest of farmers to take on actions to address climate, biodiversity, and environmental issues.
While it was initially planned to take in applicants in two Tranches, with 30,000 in Tranche 1, the decision was made to accept all valid applications submitted, and there are now just under 46,000 farmers actively involved in the Scheme, 18,438 of whom are in the ACRES Co-operation Project (CP) element of the Scheme. As the deputy can appreciate, the decision to accept all eligible applicants put significant pressure on the ability to make an advance payment to all participants by the end of 2023.
My officials have been working to expedite payments, but with the unprecedented numbers, it was not possible to get all participants paid by the end of 2023. There is also additional complexity associated with the CP stream, which means that, while work is progressing on the preparation of payments, these will not begin to issue until February.
I would like to reassure the Deputy that everything is being done to pay, as soon as possible, all ACRES participants who clear pre-payment checks.
