Alan Dillon
Question:93. Deputy Alan Dillon asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine for an update on the ACRES; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8376/24]
View answerThursday, 22 February 2024
Questions (93)
Written answers
As the deputy is aware, there was unprecedented demand under the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) Tranche 1. This is a reflection of the interest amongst farmers in taking on actions to address climate, biodiversity, and environmental issues. In response, all eligible Tranche 1 applications were approved, with just under 46,000 active contracts now in place.
ACRES payments commenced on December 15th, with payments issuing in the initial payment run to two-thirds of all ACRES General participants. Further payments have been made in 2024 to additional ACRES General participants that had cleared payment validations. Over €88 million has now issued to almost 20,000 ACRES General participants.
ACRES is also an ambitious scheme, with results-based actions - for the first time under any large-scale environmental programme - constituting an important element, in line with the objective of delivering the maximum possible environmental benefit under the scheme. This brings with it new challenges and new complexities - particularly in relation to the Co-operation Project stream - which have to be fully addressed before all payments can issue.
Every effort continues to be made to ensure that all of these payments can be issued as quickly as possible. This work is ongoing and is a priority, but is likely to take a further period to complete. In these circumstances, I have decided to make an interim, nationally-funded, payment to those farmers affected across ACRES General and Co-operation.
The rate of this interim payment will be €4,000 for those in ACRES General and €5,000 for those in ACRES Co-operation Projects. It is my intention to have this interim payment delivered to those farmers affected across ACRES General and Co-operation by the end of this month.
The application window for ACRES Tranche 2 closed in December 2023, with more than 9,000 applications received. Available funding and EU approval under Ireland’s CAP Strategic Plan 2023-2027 will support up to 50,000 contracts under ACRES.