Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent)
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1757. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will reopen applications for tranche 1 of the ACRES scheme, given that this is a new scheme and some applicants did not have an opportunity to prepare and submit their application on time; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63275/22]

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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1767. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his views on a matter (details supplied) in relation to the ACRES scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63448/22]

Michael Lowry (Tipperary, Independent)
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1824. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the assistance that will be provided to the estimated 16,000 farmers who were unable to participate in the agri-climate rural environmental scheme; if these most vulnerable low-income farmers will receive a gap payment in 2023, given that they will be unable to afford a year without support payments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1083/23]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1757, 1767 and 1824 together.

The Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) is the agri-environment climate measure in Ireland’s CAP Strategic Plan 2023 – 2027.  It is a voluntary scheme whereby farmers, when approved into the Scheme, will undertake certain actions on their land for at least five years.

There are two approaches available to farmers under ACRES, namely the ACRES General approach and the ACRES Co-operation approach depending on the location of their holding.

The Government has committed €1.5 billion to ACRES over its duration with the aim of facilitating the participation of 50,000 farmers. This is a significant number so the intake into the scheme is being phased, with at least two tranches. Tranche 1 of ACRES opened for applications on Monday 17th October 2022 and closed Wednesday 7th December 2022. Phasing the intake into the Scheme helps to spread the workload on advisors.  Intake into the Green Low Carbon Agri-environment Scheme (GLAS), the predecessor to ACRES, was also on a tranche basis for the same reason.

Applications for Tranche 1 are closed, however,  it is anticipated that ACRES Tranche 2 will open for applications in Quarter 4 of 2023.

Tranche 1 received over 46,000 applicants. I am delighted to see such a strong response to ACRES. This shows clearly how engaged and ambitious our farm families are for embracing the climate and biodiversity challenge.

ACRES has proven to be a strong and farmer-friendly scheme which has caught the imagination of the farming public. Regarding the large number of applications, I am currently reviewing the matter regarding the number of applications to be approved.