Some 10,400 farmers are awaiting payments under the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES), assistant secretary at the Department of Agriculture Paul Savage has said.
“The Department is working as hard as we can to get payments out to farmers as quickly as possible,” he told farmers at an Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) meeting on peat soils on Thursday night.
Of this figure, 2,700 farmers are waiting on a balancing payment for 2023.
Savage outlined that this payment has to be paid before the Department can then make the advance payment for 2024.
“In the case of 2023 balancing payments, there’s 2,700 cases that have to be paid. The vast majority were paid interim payments last year.
"All other cases that got the interim have had their final payment calculated,” he said, adding that the Department is either topping up or recouping money in these cases.
“We’re trying to focus on clearing the 2,700 as quick as we can. There’s a dedicated team on the ACRES side working on 2023 outstanding payments,” he said.
Of the 2,700 outstanding, between 700 and 750 farmers will be paid next week.
Payment runs
“We expect to be making payments on those cases every three weeks.
“We’re in a good place to complete all outstanding payments by May when we start the 2024 balancing payments,” he said.
Anything outstanding after that will be paid in June, he said.
Savage said that there are a number of reasons why payments are delayed and stated that there are some cases where there are issues with scorecard submissions, where ACRES data isn’t consistent with the Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) Scheme application and, in a small number of cases, there are ownership changes in terms of probate or transfer issues.
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Some 10,400 farmers are awaiting payments under the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES), assistant secretary at the Department of Agriculture Paul Savage has said.
“The Department is working as hard as we can to get payments out to farmers as quickly as possible,” he told farmers at an Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) meeting on peat soils on Thursday night.
Of this figure, 2,700 farmers are waiting on a balancing payment for 2023.
Savage outlined that this payment has to be paid before the Department can then make the advance payment for 2024.
“In the case of 2023 balancing payments, there’s 2,700 cases that have to be paid. The vast majority were paid interim payments last year.
"All other cases that got the interim have had their final payment calculated,” he said, adding that the Department is either topping up or recouping money in these cases.
“We’re trying to focus on clearing the 2,700 as quick as we can. There’s a dedicated team on the ACRES side working on 2023 outstanding payments,” he said.
Of the 2,700 outstanding, between 700 and 750 farmers will be paid next week.
Payment runs
“We expect to be making payments on those cases every three weeks.
“We’re in a good place to complete all outstanding payments by May when we start the 2024 balancing payments,” he said.
Anything outstanding after that will be paid in June, he said.
Savage said that there are a number of reasons why payments are delayed and stated that there are some cases where there are issues with scorecard submissions, where ACRES data isn’t consistent with the Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) Scheme application and, in a small number of cases, there are ownership changes in terms of probate or transfer issues.
Read more
Department set to design voluntary rewetting scheme for farmers
Is there a future farming marginal land?
Minister for Agriculture downplays rewetting meeting
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