A total of 3,744 farmers in Co. Mayo – which is the highest in the country when compared to any other county – are still waiting for payments from the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES).
The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine told the Dáil that overall 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 Charlie McConalogue, said that a total of 17,145 farmers had received a payment from the scheme.
The average payment that each farmer received was almost €4,500.
“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,” the minister added.
However, because of what he described as “additional complexity associated with the Co-operation Project (CP) stream,” payments to farmers in the CP stream will only start in February.
Minister McConalogue told Deputy Wynne that “everything is being done by my officials to expedite payments to participants who clear validation checks”.
Payments
The minister has come under severe criticism from farm organisations and TDs over the delay in payments for farmers in Co-operation with claims that the delay was “unacceptable”.
Deputy Wynne had also asked the minister if he would pay interest to those farmers whose payments had been delayed but Minister McConalogue said it was not his intention to do so.
According to latest information provided by the minister the counties with the highest number of farmers who are still waiting on ACRES payments include Mayo (3,744) then Donegal (3670), Galway (3,562), Kerry ( 3,130) and Cork ( 2,660).
But there are also 1,984 farmers in Co. Clare who have not received their ACRES payments, 1,562 in Co. Leitrim and 1,062 in Co. Sligo.
The figures supplied to the Dáil also show the counties where the highest number of ACRES participants have been paid.
These include Mayo with 1,939 farmers who have received payments, Galway with 1,893 farmers paid, Roscommon with 1,662 and Donegal with 1,186 farmers paid.