Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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374. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he can detail any meetings or discussions that he or his Department have had with persons who have resigned from the Burren programme over concerns regarding the replacement scheme and fears that it could have negative impacts on the Burren landscape; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [61512/22]

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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375. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the way that the replacement scheme for the Burren programme will impact those 300 farmers currently in the programme; and if supports available will match the amounts available under the current Burren programme. [61513/22]

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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376. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his views on a matter (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [61514/22]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 374, 375 and 376 together.

I acknowledge the excellent work done to date under the Burren Programme and am pleased that ACRES, the new flagship agri-environment scheme under the CAP Strategic Plan 2023-2027, has been designed using learnings from that Programme. The Government has committed €1.5 billion to ACRES over the term 2023 to 2027. This is the largest amount ever committed to an agri-environment scheme. 

It was always the intention to mainstream positive actions from programmes like the Burren Programme into a large-scale agri-environment scheme, to give a much larger environmental benefit, and a greater number of farmers contributing to environmental goods such as biodiversity and water. Based on the learnings from the Burren Programme and European Innovation Partnership (EIP) projects and using a habitats-based approach, ACRES will contribute to improving biodiversity, climate, air, and water quality outcomes.   

The Burren Programme currently has a participation of just over 300 farmers.  An additional 1,000 farmers, more than a 300% increase, will participate in the ACRES Burren Aran Co-operation (CP) Zone. Increasing farmer participation numbers beyond the limited numbers at present requires a balance to be struck to ensure that as an attractive payment rate as possible is offered whilst ensuring that as many farmers as possible can join, with the resulting increase in the amount of land providing environmental benefit.

Under the Burren Programme, 11,000ha of species-rich habitats were assessed, whereas it is expected that 40,000ha of high-nature value farmland will be assessed under ACRES CP in the Burren/Aran area.  This means that 29,000ha of additional land will be subject to an assessment of the habitat quality and the threats and pressures to habitats and species in those areas.  ACRES therefore, represents a significant upscaling in environmental monitoring and assessment in the region.

The Burren Programme team tendered successfully for the ACRES CP contract for that zone. My Department officials met regularly with all of the CP teams since their establishment in June to discuss all issues of concern in the development of their plans.  Following the resignation from the CP team of the Programme Manager and Senior Ecologist, my officials have continued to work together with the Burren CP team to develop the plans for their areas and to resolve many of their issues.  They have been working on a bonus structure to address concerns raised about possible impact on some of the current Burren Programme participants.  In addition to this, the 8 CP teams and the Department are developing a list of non-productive investments and landscape actions from which an ACRES CP participant will be able to choose, with the aim of improving environmental outcomes. This list will include many of the current actions used under the Burren Programme.

ACRES will support farmers in the Burren region, by offering an attractive payment rate as possible together with the assistance of a dedicated local expert team, to continue their efforts to tackle environmental challenges in climate, biodiversity, and water quality following the ending of the Burren Programme on December 31 2022.