Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon has ruled out reopening the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) for new entrants.

The €1.5 billion agri-environmental scheme is part of Ireland's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) Strategic Plan 2023-2027.

There are currently just under 54,000 farmers participating in ACRES.

ACRES

Under Budget 2026, an additional €20 million in funding was made available for ACRES.

Sinn Féin TD Natasha Newsome Drennan asked Minister Heydon if this funding will result in more farmers entering into the scheme or increased grants for existing participants.

In response, Minister Heydon said: "As the scheme is at full capacity, there are at present no plans to open any further tranches for new entrants into the scheme.

"It should be noted that the regulations require that commitments must be undertaken for a minimum of five years, meaning that the remaining time period of the current CAP would not be sufficient to allow new entrants."

Payments

The minister outlined that payment rates within ACRES are calculated on the basis of additional costs, income foregone and transaction costs, as required by the regulations.

"These payment rates have been independently verified and approved by the European Commission," he said.

Minister Heydon said the total ACRES funding allocation of €280 million for 2026 will be used to meet the current commitments of the scheme.

This includes core payments, payments for Non-Productive Investments (NPIs), Landscape Actions and ACRES training, and for the services of the ACRES Co-Operation (CP) project teams.

The minister also noted that the scheme has led to results-based scoring of more than one million hectares of agricultural land, the planting of 574,000 trees, the planting of 26,000ha with catch crops and the protection of almost 9,000km of watercourses.

"As regards biodiversity, 7,200 hectares of land are providing a food source for birds throughout the autumn and winter, while just under 14,000 boxes have been built for barn owls," he added.