Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 12 December 2023
628. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason a cohort of farmers will now not receive their ACRES payment until January 2024; the steps he will take to address the issue and ensure farmers receive their payment on time as expected; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55127/23]
Amharc ar fhreagra636. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if a matter (details supplied) in relation to ACRES will be examined; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55316/23]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 628 and 636 together.
In line with the commitment in the Programme for Government, a flagship environmental scheme, namely the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES), was launched last year. 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, as a Government the decision was made to accept all valid applications submitted, and there are now just under 46,000 farmers actively involved in the Scheme.
The decision to accept all 46,000 applicants has put significant pressure on the ability to pay all participants in 2023.
As is the case with all EU co-funded schemes, all ACRES applications must pass regulatory controls and validations before payment can issue. Validations are currently being carried out and officials have been working to expedite payments, but with the unprecedented numbers, it has not been possible to get all participants paid in ACRES by the year end.
Payments will commence on December 18th, with two thirds of all ACRES General participants in the final stages of being processed for payment in the initial payment run. ACRES General payments will continue to issue on an ongoing basis as cases are cleared for payment. Due to the additional complexity associated with the Co-operation Project (CP) stream, payments for ACRES CP participants are being progressed and will begin to issue in February 2024. A Frequently Asked Questions document has been circulated to CP Teams and approved ACRES advisors, and is published on the Department’s website.
To expedite the processing of payments, farmers with outstanding issues or returns to submit should do so without delay. Where a farmer has chosen the Low-Emission Slurry Spreading action (LESS) an annual declaration must be returned each year. There are currently a significant number of these outstanding. Payment cannot be processed for applicants with this action until this declaration has been received via the ACRES LESS online portal.
Where scoring of parcels is applicable, scorecards must be returned to calculate payments. Payments cannot issue in these cases until the scorecards have been received. In addition, farmers who have been contacted by the BISS section of my Department should ensure that any issues outstanding are dealt with as soon as possible as these issues may also impact on the ACRES claim.
All participants in Tranche 1 of ACRES are required to complete the mandatory ACRES training by the end of 2023. I therefore encourage ACRES farmers who have not attended to date to contact an approved ACRES Trainer to arrange attendance at such a course as soon as possible. A list of approved ACRES Trainers is available on my Department’s website at gov.ie - ACRES Training Scheme (ATS) (www.gov.ie).
Everything is being done to pay, as soon as possible, all ACRES participants who clear pre-payment checks.
