The Irish Natura and Hill Farmers’ Association (INHFA) is calling on Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue to ensure that all farmers receive their full Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) payment in February.
The minister recently told the Dáil that there are currently 28,084 farmers who still have not received an ACRES payment.
In response to a question raised by the Independent TD for Clare, Violet-Anne Wynne, Minister McConalogue, said that a total of 17,145 farmers had received a payment under the scheme.
“ACRES payments commenced on December 15, 2023, with a total of €76.5 million issuing to 17,145 participants in the ACRES General stream.
“ACRES General payments will continue over the coming weeks as applications are processed,” he said.
INHFA
INHFA vice-president John Joe Fitzgerald said that farmers were left frustrated last month when it was confirmed that there would be a delay in payments.
“This announcement came as a hammer-blow to these farmers especially those in ACRES Co-operation (CP) who were told that their payments won’t be issued until February,” he said.
The delay was to allow the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) more time to assess the habitat score cards and process payments.
“As we move into February it is vital that payments are issued to all farmers in ACRES Co-operation and to those farmers in ACRES General that have still not received any payment.
We are also calling for full 100% payment to be issued in February as farmers have waited long enough.
“These payments must be completed by the end of the month and there can be no more back-tracking,” Fitzgerald said.
The INHFA vice president said that Minister McConalogue must “recognise and understand the justified anger felt by farmers who see hard penalties applied by department staff when they fail to meet deadlines, but see the same department miss deadline after deadline without any sanction”.
Fitzgerald pointed to the lack of clarity for farmers who are still awaiting their habitat score.
“In the absence of this score, farmers don’t know what non-productive investments or landscape actions they should consider but even worse, they don’t know what payment they can expect.
“This is the ultimate pig in a bag and the fact that farmers are still in the dark around these issues over a year since they first expressed an interest in joining ACRES is absolutely shocking.
“Our understanding was that farmers should have been notified of their habitat score last Autumn and could have opted out of the scheme at that point if they so desired,” he said.
The INHFA also urged Minister McConalogue to seek additional funding to ensure that all 9,200 applicants can get access to tranche 2 of ACRES.
!At a time when the government is encouraging positive actions to address environmental concerns, to not support over 5,000 farmers that have indicated a willingness to engage and deliver on these issues is unacceptable,” Fitzgerald said.