Eugene Murphy (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the latest announcement from the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine regarding the agri-climate rural environmental scheme, ACRES. This is a very important scheme. Initially, it was intended that it would accept 30,000 applicants but there has been huge demand for it. The Minister insisted that the number of applicants be increased to 46,000. On top of that, an extra 4,000 places were announced in tranche 2 of the scheme and 9,000 applications were received for those places. Yesterday, the Minister announced that they would be totally funded. This means that 55,000 farmers have now signed up to this scheme. It shows that farmers want to look after the environment and make changes. Farmers will be compensated for doing so. They will receive up to €7,000, which is a very important payment. ACRES is very important for the environment and it shows the enthusiasm farmers have when a scheme is explained to them and can work. I ask that the Minister come to the House after Easter for statements and to provide an update on what is available in all of the schemes. This is a very important day, particularly for rural Ireland. As we say in rural Ireland, when farmers are spending money, the local towns and villages are doing well.