Delays in scheme payments will put farmers under “extreme financial pressure”, according to the leader of the Social Democrats, Holly Cairns.
The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue confirmed last week that payments to farmers in the Co-operation Project (CP) stream of the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) will be delayed until next year.
Payments under tranche 1 of the agri-environmental scheme will commence next week for farmers in the ACRES General stream.
Delays
Cork south-west TD Holly Cairns said that it is unacceptable that thousands of farmers in the ACRES will be waiting until March 2024 to receive payments which were due in November.
“While some farmers will begin to receive payments in the run-up to Christmas, the minister has revealed that payments to farmers in the ACRES Co-operation won’t even start until February at the earliest,” Cairns said.
“We have received no clarity from the minister as to how many farmers are affected by these delays, and farmers themselves don’t seem to have been contacted directly to inform them about delays to their payments.
“This is absolutely unacceptable. Farmers, like any other business owners, structure their finances around payment dates.
“By delaying payments for some farmers until March, people will be under intense financial pressure to pay their bills over the coming months,” the TD added.
The Social Democrats leader said that this is the latest in a series of delays to farm payments.
Advance payments for the Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS), Complementary Redistributive Income Support for Sustainability (CRISS) and Areas of Natural Constraints (ANC) began issuing later to farmers this year.
“We need huge uptake in our farming communities on schemes such as ACRES if we are to transition to a modern and sustainable model of farming in Ireland.
“But a lack of security on payment deadlines will not inspire any farmer to have confidence in the scheme.
“The minister and the department of agriculture must act immediately to ensure all farmers receive payments as soon as possible,” Cairns said.