Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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768. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if over 30,000 farmers apply for the agri-climate rural environment scheme who are now under CAP and tier one, two and three will all be accepted in cases in which their application is correct; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48621/22]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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€1.5 billion in funding has been committed to the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) over the lifetime of the next Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) which represents the largest single investment by any Government in an agri-environmental scheme.

This overall budget allocation will facilitate the participation of 50,000 participants in ACRES overall. The intake into the scheme will be phased, with at least two tranches, to spreadthe workload on advisors and enable them to allocate sufficient time for thepreparation of applications, and the completion of the Farm Sustainability Plan (FSP) and selection of appropriate actions.

As I advised last week following the announcement of the Budget, I have secured up to €500m in 2023 to support farmers in their efforts to tackle the challenges in climate, biodiversity and water quality, which includes funding for 30,000 places in ACRES.

There are two approaches within ACRES – an ACRES General approach and an ACRES Co-operation approach. Applications for each approach may be submitted within the same proposed six-week application period. Applications will then be validated and, in the event of the first intake ‘tranche’ of the Scheme being oversubscribed, ranking and selection criteria will be employed, with all applications assessed based on predefined selection criteria designed to rank the applications in accordance with environmental objectives. The ranking and selection criteria will be published as part of the Scheme Terms and Conditions.