Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The new CAP 2023-2027 came into force this year and payments will commence for ANC and the other Schemes from 17 October this year. With this being the first year of the new CAP Strategic Plan, a whole range of new schemes is being introduced,along with substantial changes to existing schemes over a relatively short time period.

My Department is fully committed to making payments to farmers under the various schemes at the earliest date possible and to the maximum number of farmers possible. This commitment to farmers is evidenced in the very high payment rates achieved across all schemes over the last number of years in both EU and Exchequer funded schemes. Almost €1.8 billion will be paid to farmers across the country during this period. At EU level, Ireland ranks amongst the most efficient Member States in getting payments to farmers quickly and in line with the legal requirements of relevant attendant EU Regulation.

In addition, the mechanisms used by the Department to check the scheme requirements for many of the schemes are also changing in 2023, especially with the mandatory introduction of the Area Monitoring System (AMS) as required under EU regulations for 100% of all beneficiaries. The AMS has many significant benefits for Irish farmers including a reduction in the number of on-farm physical inspections and the introduction of warning alerts to farmers so as to minimise the occurrence of non-compliances, allowing farmers to correct mistakes and giving farmers and advisors more time to respond to queries with no impact on their payment.

It should also be noted that the closing date for the Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) and other area-based schemes applications (including the Areas of Natural Constraints Scheme) was Monday 29 May 2023, two weeks later than previous years and thereby providing farmers and advisors more time to understand the new scheme requirements and to submit their applications before the closing date.

My Department will review the payments dates at the end of the year for future years with the view to bringing forward the payment dates in line with the Farmers Charter, which is currently being negotiated with the farm organisations.