Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue must consider drafting in additional departmental staff to clear the current backlog of ACRES payments, which are due to be processed in February.
That is the view of Laois Offaly Independent TD Carol Nolan, who said:
“The debacle around the delayed payments left tens of thousands of farmers bitterly disappointed prior to the Dáil’s Christmas recess.”
However, in comments to the Irish Farmers Journal, Minister McConalogue has now said that he is not in a position to provide guarantees that all of the delayed payments will be issued to farmers by the end of February.
It is understood that the minister would only indicate a willingness to “pay as many as possible” in February as some of the payments “are continuing to be cleared”
The ACRES scheme is integral to Ireland’s Common Agricultural Policy Strategic Plan (2023-2027), is allocated a budget of €1.5 billion.
Its goal is to assist farmers in enhancing biodiversity, climate, air, and water quality on their farms.
ACRES advance payments represent 85% of the total scheme year payment, with the balance to be paid in May 2024.
The average ACRES payment issuing this week is almost €4,500 for an individual farmer
“This is not exactly the start to the new year that farmers want to hear and indeed many of them I am sure will be increasingly anxious about when they will actually receive their payments,” Deputy Nolan said.
“I am calling on minister McConalogue to escalate the clearance rate by drafting in additional administrative staff if that is what it takes to clear the backlog and get farmers their money.
“We cannot have a situation, potentially speaking, where thousands of farmers will still be waiting for their ACRES payments in March.
“The clear indication prior to Christmas was that February was the latest in which payments would be made.
“That is the bare minimum that farmers now deserve.”
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