Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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382. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the amount of funding that has gone from the carbon tax 2021 to the REPS-2 programme to encourage and incentivise farmers to farm in a greener and more sustainable way; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47241/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The Department was allocated €23m of carbon tax funding in Budget 2021.  This funding was allocated to pilot projects to prepare for the new programme to encourage and incentivise farmers to farm in a greener and more sustainable way.  An amount of €20m was provided for the new REAP project, a results-based agri-environment pilot project that aims to test the feasibility of scaling up lessons learned from the current Rural Development Programme.  This project rewards farmers for good agricultural practices and includes a results-based payment system with higher rates paid to those achieving higher environmental outcomes.  This two-year pilot project was approved by the European Commission in May 2021, and payments will commence later in 2021.

The remaining €3m, which is the capital element of the allocation, is being utilised to increase the knowledge base and baseline data for climate and environment, identifying our carbon rich soils through a peat mapping project, a soil moisture monitoring network, and the monitoring of greenhouse gas emissions on farmed lands.

I am committed to bringing a scheme that will support farmers and help the environment.