Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 20 March 2025
393. Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason for the delays in ACRES payments across Kerry; the measures he is taking to address this; his plans to simplify and expedite the process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13213/25]
Amharc ar fhreagraACRES is the first scheme of its kind to upscale results-based payments to a national level. This is a significant change in implementing such an innovative and ambitious scheme, and it 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 from all twenty six counties, including those in county Kerry. 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.
We have made significant progress. 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. In addition, just under 81% of participants have been paid their advance payment in respect of their participation in the Scheme in 2024.
As is the case with all EU co-funded schemes, claims for payments under ACRES must pass regulatory controls and validations before payment can issue.
My Department 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 are taking place every 10 days in order to ensure that these payments are issued in a timely manner.
My Department will be issuing regular online updates over the coming period on the progress being made, with the overarching objective of having all outstanding payments in respect of farmers’ participation in ACRES in 2023 and 2024 made by the end of June.
