Sinn Féin spokesperson for agriculture, Claire Kerrane has welcomed an announcement to extend the submission deadline for scorecards under the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES).
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue announced on Friday (July 28) that he was granting a four-week extension to the closing date for submission of completed scorecards for the €1.5 billion scheme.
The new closing date will be Friday, September 29, which will give advisors an additional four weeks to complete the submissions.
The previous deadline was August 31.
Just under 40% of the estimated 180,000 scorecards have been submitted already.
The announcement followed a formal request from Teagasc that the department consider extending the deadline to the end of September for ACRES scorecard completion by advisors.
ACRES
Deputy Claire Kerrane had repeatedly called on Minister McConalogue to extend the deadline since early June.
“It’s been very clear that advisors have been under huge pressure in meeting the demand, especially given ACRES was so heavily oversubscribed, which is a good thing.
“However, this was about fairness for advisors while also ensuring they were given adequate time to ensure scorecards could be submitted on time to ensure farmers were paid.
“I had been clear with Minister McConalogue that an extension of time until the end of September, as I had proposed, was a small tweak to the scheme that would help to ensure it is a success for those in it,” she said.
“It is a pity that the minister did not make this announcement sooner and reduce the stress many advisors have been under. They had, in my opinion been given an impossible task with a deadline of the end of next month.
“There have also been issues with the delay to the launch of the app and we know that some advisors are having issues uploading to the app with poor coverage in parts.
“This extra time was badly needed.
“I hope that this extension will give some peace of mind to advisors and reassurance to farmers who’ve put their faith in this scheme and that the department and minister will be quicker in future in making decisions that are sought in good faith from farmers,” Deputy Kerrane added.