Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 25 June 2025
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food
Delays in Departmental Scheme Payments: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
2:00 am
Mr. Francis Morrin:
GAEC stands for good agricultural and environmental condition. Yes, it is an odd sounding acronym. Yes, we will have an appeals system where a farmer says that land is not GAEC 2, is not peatland and does not meet that definition. It is important to say that the application of GAEC 2 has very little effect on the vast majority of farmers and they can continue to far as they would have as before. There are a small number of farmers who will want to do extra drainage or carry out some action where the scheme would affect them. When it comes to carrying those appeals, to correct if there is an anomaly, we will have to prioritise for those farmers who are waiting to do something that they need to get done on that land. The vast majority of farmers will continue farming as always and this will not affect them at all. We do have to prioritise that for sure.