A farmer’s pension reduced by “nearly €50”  after an Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) payment of €5,000 was lodged in his bank, a senator has told the Seanad.

Senator Seán Kyne tabled a commencement debate on ACRES in the Seanad to highlight “issues” with the scheme including advance payments earlier this year.

“In some cases farmers have had to pay back €2,000 or €3,000 of the €5,000 originally paid.

“That has left a bad taste in their mouths regarding the scheme. It is an administrative issue as there has been an administrative failure in relation to the scheme,” Senator Kyne said.

The senator told the Seanad that he had dealt with one case – where the outcome was “successful” – where a farmer had the €5,000 lodged in the bank and then had their pension “reviewed”.

Senator Kyne said: “A simple analysis of profit and loss based on the payment resulted in their pension being reduced by nearly €50.

“Subsequently, the farmer received a letter requiring that they pay back all but €1,300 of the €5,000, which meant €3,700 had to be repaid.

“Thankfully, their pension was restored but that was the consequence. Administratively, there have been issues with this scheme.”

ACRES

Although the senator complimented the government on securing funding and launching ACRES he said the calculation of the advance payments had been “way off”.

“The one thing worse than not giving something to somebody is giving them something and taking it back,” Senator Kyne stated.

He also queried why there was “such a miscalculation” in relation to the advance payments to farmers.

In response Minister of State, Anne Rabbitte, told the Seanad that the “ambitious and complex nature of ACRES” had created challenges in the first year of the scheme.

She said that the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, had “endeavoured to address those challenges as they arose,” and also detailed that currently “8,673 participants are in an overpayment situation”.

Minister Rabbitte added: “The minister has ensured, in the interests of providing as much flexibility as possible, that a range of options is available to the affected participants to facilitate making the repayment in a way that best suits them, including deferring their next ACRES payment”.