Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 30 June 2022
322. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will commit to providing adequate funding for Pillar 2 schemes to ensure all farmers who apply for the recently announced agri-climate rural environment scheme will get accepted to the scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35141/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraA new agri-environmental scheme to be known as the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (‘ACRES’), has been proposed as part of Ireland’s draft CAP Strategic Plan which is currently with the EU Commission for approval. We have committed €1.5 billion in funding for the scheme over the lifetime of the next CAP - the largest single investment by any Government in an agri-environmental scheme.
This Government has previously committed to total funding for the CSP 2023-2027 of €9.83 billion. The total national funding and the level of co-financing are both significantly higher than applied under the previous CAP programme - over a seven-year period the funding is almost €1.2 billion higher, an increase of nearly 30%, over the 2014-2020 RDP.
ACRES will be a farmer-friendly scheme that will help address biodiversity decline while delivering an important income support for up to 50,000 farm families.
Using a habitats-based approach, delivered through both multi-functional prescription and results-based actions, ACRES aims to contribute significantly to achieving improved biodiversity, climate, air and water quality outcomes. These will be achieved through two approaches under the scheme:
- an ACRES General approach offering a range of actions (both prescription and results-based) for individual farmers to choose from; and
- an ACRES Co-operation Project approach, available to farmers in defined high priority geographical areas, who opt to undertake measures, as well as bespoke farm, and landscape actions. Farmers participating in this approach will have the assistance of a Local Cooperation Project (CP) Team, who will assist with implementation of the scheme at local level.
It should be noted that approval for Ireland’s CAP Strategic Plan is awaited from the EU Commission, so all of the proposals may be subject to change and will be subject to the annual budgetary cycle. I look forward to engaging with farmers and advisors later in the summer in advance of the scheme formally opening.
