'Scorecard related issues' impact 619 ACRES contracts

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon has confirmed that over 600 Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) contracts have been impacted by "scorecard related issues".

The minister was responded to a parliamentary question from Fianna Fáil TD Timmy Dooley.

The Clare TD asked the minister how many payments under tranche 2 of the agri-environmental scheme are outstanding as a result of technical or IT issues, with scorecards being imported to the payroll system.

"I can confirm that there is a total of 619 ACRES contracts failing to clear pre-payment validations due to scorecard related issues," Minister Heydon said.

The minister noted that every case must clear all validations before payment can issue to a farmer.

"These validations will continue to be carried out, and my department is working to resolve these issues so as to expedite payments.

"Further pay runs, to participants in both tranches, will continue to issue on a regular basis as cases pass all required validation checks.

"Everything is being done to pay, as soon as possible, all ACRES participants who clear pre-payment checks," he added.

In a separate parliamentary question, Sinn Féin TD Rose Conway-Walsh asked Minister Heydon if an IT issue is interfering with ACRES payments.

The minister said that ACRES is the first scheme of its kind to upscale results-based payments to a national level and this has come with "complexities and challenges".

"There is significant work involved in the verification of payment claims, and in the calculation and issuing of payments to over 54,000 participants.

"Most of these applications consist of a number of actions, or there may be a number of different habitats to be assessed, and multiple scorecards to be completed and submitted.

"Certain issues such as transfers of contracts, late or non-submission of scorecards, and alignment of ACRES information with data held by the department on other IT systems, have contributed to the delay in the making of those payments.

"Work is ongoing to resolve these issues, and every effort is being made to process outstanding payments as quickly as possible," he said.

Minister Heydon told Deputy Conway-Walsh that "significant progress" had been made on payments in 2024.

"Almost all ACRES participants have received a payment (either interim or final) in respect of their participation in the scheme in 2023, and remaining balancing payments continue to be processed.

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"In addition, just over 75% of participants have been paid their 2024 advance payment.

"This is a reflection of the progress that has been made in the delivery of the required IT systems," he said.

The minister said that the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) is "continuing to investigate and progress all cases that have not yet received payments".

"As these are resolved, they are added to the next scheduled pay run. Pay runs recommenced in January 2025, and fortnightly pay runs are taking place in order to ensure that these payments are issued in a timely manner," he said.

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