The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has said that "ongoing development of IT functionality" is preventing some payments for non-productive investments (NPIs).

NPIs are voluntary environmental actions for which participants in the Co-operation Approach of the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) can apply.

The fourth application window for the submission of NPI applications in the form of annual work plans (AWPs) is currently open.

Claims for the implementation of NPIs under approved AWPs in 2023 and 2024 could be submitted from July 2025.

The closing date for submissions of claims under 2023 AWPs was March 31, while claims can still be submitted for the implementation of NPIs under approved 2024 AWPs.

According to the department, payments totalling €9.1 million have issued to date for 3,660 claims.

This represents 97% of the claims submitted for the 2023 AWPs and 89% of the claims for the 2024 AWPs.

This leaves around 215 payments still outstanding.

According to a department response to a query from Agriland, the issues preventing payment include cases where ownership has changed, outstanding information has been requested from the participant, and "ongoing development of IT functionality".

For those farmers who have received a request for more information on their payment claims, the department is urging them to submit that information as soon as possible.

Any participant experiencing issues in relation to payment of correctly submitted NPI claims are strongly encouraged to reach out to the department's payment team for support.

ACRES IT issues

Agriland was contacted by one farmer who has claimed to be waiting on a substantial payment for work completed last year and was informed that IT-related issues were the reason for the delay.

The ACRES programme was beset by IT-related challenges in its earlier days, which resulted in long delays to farmer payments.

In October 2024, then Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue ordered a review of the €1.5 billion agri-environmental scheme.

Speaking this month, his successor in that office, Minister Martin Heydon, said that the review of ACRES is not yet finalised.

In response to a parliamentary question from Green Party leader Roderic O'Gorman, Minister Heydon confirmed that the review is still not complete.

"The purpose of the review was to examine the scheme to identify possible improvements in the experience of the participants and if environmental ambition has been fully realised," he said.

The minister also said that the outcome of the review "will contribute to the design and development of the agri-environment climate actions to be made available under the Common Agricultural Policy [CAP] post-2027".