Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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1773. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of applications received under the ACRES scheme; the number of applications rejected due to late application; if the application date will be extended due to the administrative burden involved with applying; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63634/22]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The Government has committed €1.5 billion to ACRES with the aim of supporting family farm incomes while also encouraging farmers on the climate and biodiversity ambitions. The initial aim of ACRES was to accommodate 50,000 entrants over two tranches. Tranche 1 of ACRES opened for applications on Monday 17th October 2022 and closed Wednesday 07th 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.

ACRES has proven to be hugely successful with farmers keen to join the scheme. When the deadline for tranche 1 closed there were over 46,000 applicants compared to the expected 30,000 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. The processing of applications is now under way and we will be in direct contact with the applicants to advise on next steps in the coming weeks.