Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)

I believe we have made progress. I cannot be any clearer; I will not rest until every last farmer is paid. I will continue to push my officials and push the system as hard as possible to work through those last issues. The last issues are also the most difficult. To be at 99%, 97% and 94% of payments through the different cohorts is significant progress. We have made a commitment that problems will not recur on this scale.

The Deputy asked for a specific breakdown, so let us make it specific to Tipperary. In Tipperary, of the applicants in 2023, 1,559 have been fully paid and only 14 still have challenges we are working through. There 14 outstanding and 1,559 have been paid. In 2024, 1,842 received advance payments for 2024 and 1,797 received the balancing payments on that as well, with 63 of the advance payments not paid and 113 of the balancing payments not paid. Those farmers still have to be sorted. They are my focus and I continue to do that while making sure we can restore confidence in the sector. However, the vast majority of the Deputy's farmers in Tipperary and farmers in other parts of the country have had those problems resolved. They are finding great benefits and delivering benefits through ACRES, which has delivered more than €500 million into our economy and into farmers' pockets over the last couple of years.

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