Seán Kyne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State and thank the Cathaoirleach for selecting this Commencement debate on the agri-climate rural environment scheme, ACRES.

As the Minister of State will be fully aware, ACRES provides a very important injection of money for Irish farmers. It is a €1.5 billion flagship agri-environment scheme and a successor to a number of previous schemes, including REPS, GLAS and AEOS, which have been hugely successful in promoting good environmental practice among farmers. The uptake of all these schemes has been high, and ACRES is no exception. On that basis, I compliment the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, and the Government on ensuring the scheme got up and running and so many farmers have been accepted into it. I have no doubt that the results of the scheme, on its conclusion, will show it has been successful in enhancing the environment on farms and in waterways across rural Ireland and increasing habitat protection.

The one thing worse than not giving something to somebody is giving them something and taking it back. Unfortunately, advance payments were made earlier this year and in some cases farmers have had to pay back €2,000 or €3,000 of the €5,000 originally paid. That has left a bad taste in their mouths regarding the scheme. It is an administrative issue as there has been an administrative failure in relation to the scheme. Not only were cheques issued and letters sent stating that some of the money could be withdrawn but it took a long time for letters to be sent explaining why farmers had to repay money. There was some confusion.

I have dealt with one particular case - thankfully, the outcome was successful - where a farmer had the €5,000 lodged in the bank and then had their pension reviewed. A simple analysis of profit and loss based on the payment resulted in their pension being reduced by nearly €50. Subsequently, the farmer received a letter requiring that they pay back all but €1,300 of the €5,000, which meant €3,700 had to be repaid. Thankfully, their pension was restored but that was the consequence. Administratively, there have been issues with this scheme.

As I said, I compliment the Government on securing the funding, initiating the scheme, engaging with the European Commission, and having the foresight to note delays in the scheme and make advance payments. Unfortunately, the calculation of the advance payments has been way off and has resulted in farmers having to repay money. An overpayment was made to 6,975 recipients of interim payments. I would call it a miscalculation rather than an overpayment. They received advance money and when the scoring, which took time, was done they were deemed to have been overpaid. Figures show that some 62% of recipients had to repay between €100 and €2,000 and 28% had to pay back between €2,000 and €4,000.That is a significant portion of the money they received in advance. Why was it that so much had to be repaid? Why was there such a miscalculation?