Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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119. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will open applications for the ACRES in early 2023 to allow farmers who could not meet the 2022 application deadline to qualify for a payment in 2023; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [61447/22]

Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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The application process for the agri-climate rural environment scheme, ACRES, closed yesterday evening and there was probably a frenzy of activity within the Department to handle all the applications that came in. My question relates to the farmers who have not applied or had time to apply or have missed the deadline through no fault of their own. The Minister intends to reopen the application process towards the end of next year. Can he do that earlier in the spring so that farmers can have some payment next year and will not have a gap year?

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. ACRES is part of the agri-environment climate measure in Ireland’s CAP strategic plan for 2023 to 2027. It is a voluntary scheme whereby farmers, when approved, will undertake certain actions on their land for at least five years. It closed last night and I want to recognise the massive work that has gone into the application process by the farmers and their advisers who have worked night and day over the recent period to get their farms walked and their applications in. I also want to recognise the massive work that is going on in my Department and the team there building this scheme, administering the applications process, and the massive job of work that is ahead of them to step that out. They have done tremendous work. It is a good scheme, which has been popular and well received by farmers. Once again it reflects the appetite of farmers to be involved in such a scheme. I recognise that and thank everybody for getting us to this stage.

There are two approaches available to farmers under ACRES, namely the general approach and the common approach. The Government has committed €1.5 billion to ACRES. It opened for applications on 17 October and I extended the closing date by two weeks until last night to give as many farmers as possible the opportunity to apply to participate next year. As the Deputy will be aware, we have allocated funding to provide for 30,000 farmers in the budget for next year so we will see what the numbers are after the closure of applications.

On the Deputy's point regarding a gap year, that is something I am conscious of and have discussed with farmers as well. It is also something I am reflecting on with our team as to how we may be able to accommodate that because for those who were previously involved in the green low carbon agri-environment scheme, GLAS but who may not be involved in ACRES, that is a real challenge. It is a significant source of income as well as the contribution it facilitates farmers to make to working on environmental goods. It is something I am conscious of and will reflect on further.

Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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I also thank the Minister for extending the scheme for two weeks and I know a number of Deputies, including myself, approached him about this and he did take action. I welcome the fact he will review this. Farmers rely on income supports and on these types of grants to make sure they have a cash flow. If farmers who were in GLAS cannot get into this scheme, there will be a gap in their income next year and many are wondering, as the Minister knows well, what will happen to them. I understand they have a severe workload right now but I encourage him and the Department to consider opening the scheme towards the end of March to get the next tranche ready and maybe some payment could be made to those farmers towards the end of the year. That would be important.

One other issue that has raised its head is that in the criteria for existing applications that went in towards the last week or so there were some small nuanced changes in the scheme. If farmers could get the opportunity to make corrections or adjustments to their applications over the next week or two to ensure they get the maximum return, that would also be appreciated.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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It will not be possible to open the scheme earlier next year because there are specific workloads throughout the year. This puts a massive workload on advisers and March-April is the key time of year for basic income support through the basic payment scheme, BPS, applications. We have worked closely with the advisers and their representatives on the window for applying for ACRES and on how we will do it next year. We have discussed that for next year as to when that period will be and it will be the latter part of the year to open up for new applicants to participate fully again next year. It does have to go year to year because farmers need to be in for the full year to be able to participate in all of the actions and to have the scoring done, etc. There is the issue of the gap and that is something I will certainly reflect on. Now that the scheme is closed we will consider any issues that arise and I will certainly take the Deputy's points on board and consider them with the team.

Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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No doubt from listening to farmers himself, the Minister does grasp that the important issue is that there is something done for people in a gap year so they are not just left in a vacuum. I also welcome his statement that he will examine any anomalies that arose in the process and in the criteria. If there is an issue, maybe farmers could access their application again over a short period so their planners could address the issue because it could affect the amount they receive. I have heard that from a number of planners in the past couple of days and rather than trying to reinvent the wheel or look for another extension, there could be a mechanism by which these issues could be resolved. As the Minister said, this is a scheme for farmers, and for the environment and it is very popular. He had to extend because there was demand for it and the planners were flat out, the farmers were flat out and the Department was flat out trying to cope with all of that. Hopefully this will be good for farmers. The proof of the pudding will be in the eating but at least farmers are engaging, which they always said they would do, and that is a positive sign.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy again for raising the matter. I have been pleased with the reaction to the ACRES scheme. It has been well received by farmers across the country. It was a key commitment from the two Ministers of State, Senator Hackett and Deputy Heydon and myself, representing three different parties, when we negotiated the programme for Government and went into government, to put a strong environmental scheme in place that would back family farms, provide income from them and enable and empower them to do significant work on ecosystem services and environmental goods. The farmers have responded strongly. I recognise again the massive work the Minister of State, Senator Hackett, will be well aware of that her team in the Department have done to get to this stage as well as the massive work that has gone on in farmyards and in advisory offices throughout the country over the past couple of months. We will certainly reflect now that the scheme is closed as to how we will step it forward and to continue to do the best job we can with it.