Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 6 December 2022
717. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the expected timeframe from the date applications are received in respect of the climate rural environment scheme to the date that a final decision is taken and the applicants notified as to whether or not they have been accepted in to the scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [60351/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) is the agri-environment climate measure in Ireland’s CAP Strategic Plan 2023 – 2027.
It is the successor to the Green Low Carbon Agri-environment Scheme (GLAS) which was available under Ireland’s Rural Development Programme 2014-2020. ACRES is a voluntary scheme whereby farmers, when approved into the Scheme, will undertake certain actions on their land for at least five years.
There are two approaches available to farmers under ACRES, namely the ACRES General approach and the ACRES Co-operation approach depending on the location of their holding. The Government has committed €1.5 billion to ACRES over its duration with the aim of facilitating the participation of 50,000 farmers.
The intake into the scheme will be phased, with at least two tranches. This will help to spread the workload on advisors and enable them to allocate sufficient time for the preparation of applications, the completion of Farm Sustainability Plans and selection of appropriate actions.
The application system opened on Monday 17th October 2022 for the submission of applications under ACRES Tranche 1 with the aim of issuing a total of 30,000 approvals. The application system will remain open until 23.59 on Wednesday 7th December 2022. Application processing, including possible ranking and selection, will begin on 8th December 2022, and I expect approvals to issue towards the end of January 2023.
