Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There is no doubt that, when a new agri-environmental scheme commences at the start of a CAP process, it brings a lot of teething problems. I remember that GLAS in 2015 struggled in that first year. It is a big undertaking. We had a number of different measures coming together at this one time.

Let me be clear. While I am pointing to the momentum I have managed to build in this process in the ten weeks I have been in my role, I will not rest until every farmer is sorted. I want to see that happen. We are on track to make the balancing payments that are due to be paid in May. I am going to make sure that they are done as well and that the vast majority of farmers outstanding will have their issues resolved and payments made by the end of May, with the most difficult cases to be fixed by the end of June.

The solutions I am looking to put into place are permanent ones whereby these problems for farmers will not recur. The IT functionality is built around these solutions so that they are not one-off interventions. I want to restore farmers' confidence in ACRES.

See this speech in context