Sinn Féin spokesperson on Agriculture and Rural Development Martin Kenny is calling for the recoupment of payments under the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) to be delayed.
The Sligo–Leitrim TD is calling on the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, following news that 1,191 ACRES General participants and 5,784 in ACRES Co-operation (CP) have been overpaid.
In cases where farmers received an interim payment which exceeded their total ACRES payment due for 2023, the average overpayment has been approximately €1,741, which must now be repaid to the department.
The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has written to impacted farmers to inform of the amount overpaid and provided a list of repayment options.
Deputy Kenny said that while repayments “must” be made”, they should be delayed in order to allow farmers to receive their next ACRES payment first.
“The bigger issue here is the clear inefficiency of the department and the mishandling of the scheme from the outset,” Deputy Kenny said.
He said that farmers have been “dealing with delay after delay” from the department this year.
Deputy Kenny said that the processing of scorecards by the department was delayed from the beginning.
“This delay then led to a delay in the first payment. Indeed all farmers who have applied for the Non-Productive Investments payments are still awaiting approval,” Deputy Kenny said.
“Our farmers have had to deal with two very difficult years, due mainly to weather and rising input costs – in the backdrop also of the cost-of-living crisis.
“In their haste to complete delayed scorecards of farmers land, the department did not assess them properly and overpaid the farmers,” the deputy added.
He said that farmers entered the scheme in “good faith” at the time, and that issues causing delays and overpayment “rest with the department”.