Joe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael)
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176. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will make the necessary provisions to continue the hugely successful Burren programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [61228/22]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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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. 

The ACRES Scheme has two approaches: 

- ACRES Co-operation Project (CP), which applies in eight mapped zones that are areas of high nature value.

- ACRES General, for all other farmers not falling within CP Zones. 

Contracts for farmers under the current Burren Programme will finish on 31st December 2022 and contracts will begin for successful applicants in the first tranche of ACRES, including those in ACRES Burren Aran CP zone, from 1st January 2023.

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.   

This is also about increasing the environmental ambition. 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 that habitat and species in those areas.  ACRES, therefore, represents a significant upscaling in environmental monitoring and assessment in the region.

In terms of farmer participation, the Burren Programme currently has a participation of just over 300 farmers.  An additional 1,000 farmers, in excess of a 300% increase, will participate in the ACRES Burren Aran CP Zone.  The ACRES Scheme will support farmers in the Burren region to continue their efforts to tackle the challenges in climate, biodiversity, and water quality following the completion of the Burren Programme at 31st December 2022.