The Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers' Association (ICMSA) has hit out at the ongoing delays with payments due under the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES).

The farm organisation criticised Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon for the "unjustifiable delays”, which it said has left has left "thousands of participating farmers across the country in financial limbo".

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) confirmed this week that over 1,600 farmers are still awaiting their advance payments for participation ACRES for 2024.

While some 3,300 farmers are still waiting on a balancing payment for last year.

ICMSA deputy president, Eamon Carroll said that despite repeated assurances from Minister Heydon and DAFM officials that ACRES payments would be made within a specific timeframe, there are still many outstanding cases.

“Farmers entered into ACRES in good faith and committed to environmentally sound practices that align with national climate goals.

"Having delivered on what his department’s scheme asked of them, farmers are very entitled to receive the payments set out and the onus is on the minister to ensure they are paid on time,” Carroll, who also chairs the association’s farm and rural affairs committee, said.

Carroll added that the department's failure to deliver on its own timelines has created widespread frustration and financial hardship.

“The minister has recognised the real problems here and has undertaken to prioritise the most difficult cases and try and get those sorted by the end of June.

"That’s not looking likely at this stage and the damage to confidence and trust is only being compounded here where the department can’t catch up with cases that it itself recognises as requiring urgent attention," he said.

The ICMSA deputy president also claimed that there is a "loss of confidence in the department’s administrative capacity".

He called on the minister to immediately announce three measures that address the issues that this episode has highlighted:

Immediate publication of a full breakdown of delayed ACRES payments, including regional data;
A clear and binding timeline for outstanding payments to be issued;
An independent review into the causes of the delay and accountability measures for future scheme rollouts.

“This fiasco has badly damaged the reputation of the department and following through on these three commitments would begin a badly-needed repair process. Farmers deserve better than this kind of shabby careless treatment," Carroll said.