ACRES payment delays 'source of great frustration' for Heydon
The Minister for Agriculture, Food, and the Marine Martin Heydon has expressed his frustration around payment delays for farmers in the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES).
The minister was responding to a question in the Dáil last evening (Tuesday, May 20) from Fianna Fáil TD Albert Dolan about the reason for the delay in payments.
"Not a week goes by in which I do not have a farmer in east Galway contacting my office regarding the delays to ACRES payments.
"What has gone so wrong with ACRES payments? Why has there been such a delay? What lessons will be learned to ensure this does not happen again?" Deputy Dolan said.
ACRES is the €1.5 billion flagship agri-environmental scheme provided under Ireland's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) Strategic Plan 2023-2027.
Minister Heydon said that "payments in respect of farmers' participation in the ACRES scheme continue to issue on a weekly basis as cases pass all validation checks".
"Last week, I announced that balancing payments in respect of the 2024 scheme year have commenced with more than €33 million issuing to 42,444 participants.
"A total of €490 million has issued since ACRES payments commenced at the end of 2023," he said.
"However, I am acutely aware that others are still awaiting payments. This is a source of great frustration for me. I have been dealing with it since the minute I assumed this role.
"In the case of the 2023 scheme year, 97% of participants have been paid in full. As regards 2024, 90% of participants have received their advance payments and almost 88% of these have now received a balancing payment," the minister added.
Heydon said that the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) is "committed to resolving the issues that have been delaying the remaining payments as soon as possible and is making progress in this regard".
"I know that is cold comfort if you are one of the few who still have not been sorted. We have made significant progress and built momentum, which I continue to do," he said.
Deputy Dolan told the minister that it is important to show farmers that if they sign up for a scheme they need to be assured of payment on time.
Minister Heydon said that when he took office it was not acceptable to him to "meet so many farmers where in many instances, the fault was with the department".
"In some instances it was with themselves for various reasons but in the majority of cases, it has been on our side.
"I have visited Johnstown Castle and have engaged directly with the officials. I have directed additional resources into the units.
"I have got down into the detail of the different cohorts and how they are affected.
"One reason it takes time to fix this is that I am not willing to have a quick fix that needs a manual intervention every year.
"I want to make sure that the resolution here means that this problem does not recur every year. That is why we are getting through this and I stick to the commitments I made previously to resolve this as quickly as possible," he said.
