Sarah O'Reilly (Aontú) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise an issue causing farmers great distress, namely, ACRES payments. I have been working on a number of identical cases in which farmers have been denied payments as far back as 2023. In my communication with the Department, it is quite obvious to all that the farmers are not to blame in these cases. In December when I followed up on the issue, I was told by the Department of agriculture that there were a lot of issues holding payments up and it cited penalties. I was assured that payment would issue in January. It is now mid-February and, as recently as yesterday, I was advised that there was a functionality issue and an IT issue. I was advised that payments would issue in mid-March. With farmers having spent large amounts of money to comply with and qualify for this scheme, I ask that the Minister for agriculture address the issue urgently.