Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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57. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of farmers with commonage in the ACRES scheme; the number of these that have received a payment to date; when the balance of these will receive a payment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7782/24]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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78. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of participants in the ACRES scheme for the last year; the number of these that have received a payment broken down by county; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7781/24]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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These two questions seek to ascertain the number of farmers with and without commonage in ACRES, the number who have received a payment to date, and when the balance who have not got paid will receive a payment. I understand the vast majority of those are farmers with commonage because there is a lot of disquiet about payments, which I think the Minister is aware of. I understand he is taking some steps but I would be interested to find out exactly what the situation is.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 57 and 78 together.

I thank Deputy Ó Cuív for raising this issue. I know it is particularly important to farmers in Galway and Mayo, as it is in Donegal. Either Galway or Mayo has the highest number of ACRES participants, at more than 5,000, which is over one ninth of the national total. The scheme has been quite popular for people to engage with. There are issues with the practicalities of rolling it out. The particular challenge with ACRES is different from the other schemes we have done this year in that it has been a challenge with getting payments out on time. We hoped to have that done by December but that was not possible. We hoped that the systems would be finalised in time to do it for February and, again, that has not been possible, so that work is ongoing.

I have intervened to decide that there will be an interim payment, which will be issued by the end of this month. That interim payment will be at the rate of €4,000 to farmers who are in the general scheme and €5,000 to those who are in the co-operation scheme. That means that by the end of this month, every single farmer, bar none, who participated in ACRES last year will have received a payment. It will either be the payment they got in December, if they have already been paid, or the €4,000 or €5,000 now. Work is continuing on finalising the build-out of the system around ACRES. It has proven to be the most logistically challenging of our schemes for the team to work through. The balancing payments will be made in June to net off the €4,000 or €5,000 that the farmers will receive by the end of this month against what their final payment would be.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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Have we any idea of how the commonages will be scored and what the final outcome there will be? Many farmers are not only worried about getting payments, because they need payment urgently, but they are also concerned about the uncertainty regarding the final size of the payment they will get under ACRES, particularly in relation to commonage. How soon will they be given the final score on their land and also on their commonages? Will the Minister also tell me how many farmers have got their payment to date and how many have not? How many farmers can expect a cheque between now and the end of the month out of the total number in the scheme?

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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So far, only farmers participating in the general stream have received any payment. Out of 28,000 in the general stream, some 20,000 have received a payment, with over €88 million paid out to them so far. Around 18,000 other farmers are in the co-operation stream. They will now all receive €5,000 by the end of this month. Those in the general stream-----

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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How many did the Minister say?

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Some 18,000 in the co-operation stream. In total, we will see 26,000 farmers receive the interim payment of either €4,000 in the case of the 8,000 general stream farmers who have not been paid, or €5,000 for the 18,000 co-operation stream farmers, none of whom have received a payment yet. I accept what the Deputy is saying. Farmers will be very keen to see the level of their final payment. The scoring was published and is publicly available. It would have been scored by the co-operation teams in each area and then returned to the Department. What that score is going to be and how different commonages are amalgamated and how they come together is part of what the build will determine in bringing all of those scores together. That is why getting it finalised has been complicated. I think the interim payment will be important in getting payments to farmers to allow them a couple of months to get that finalised, to get the final payment clarified and to get the final balancing payments made to farmers.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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Can I take it that by June, everybody will have got the score, so the final payment is the full final payment?

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Yes.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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Can the Minister also let me know whether it would be hoped, for year two of ACRES, for the first payment to take place before Christmas this year? Farmers would effectively get two payments. That causes a little wobble for some people with how they do their accounts, if they do it on a cash receipts basis. On the other hand, the quicker they get the payments, the better. Will they be paid the first ACRES payment before the end of this year as had been planned for last year?

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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That would certainly be the intention.

Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Apologies. I missed a supplementary. My mistake.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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In response to Deputy McNamara, my understanding from recollection is that approvals are still required in most of those instances. It would certainly be the intention that once approvals are given, they can move through to payments. That is part of the scheme that is still being rolled out and is the next step in relation to the co-operation streams.

In response to Deputy Ó Cuív's question, the intention would be to be in a position to pay everybody by the end of this year. Obviously, the system is still being built and finalised with regard to payments and making sure that scores are delivered. That has proven challenging but it will be worked out over the next couple of months. The balancing payment will be in June with the target of making sure everybody will get into the normal way of going and will receive their payments at the end of this year for 2024.