Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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During 2022, my Department produced “indicative Space for Nature” percentages for all farmers by mapping features such as hedges, stonewalls, groves of trees, scrub etc and attaching a space for nature estimate to them. These "indicative Space for Nature" estimates were launched on iNet in September 2022 in advance of the national ploughing championships and 6 months in advance of iNet opening for BISS 2023 applications in February 2023.

Farmers and FAS Advisors were advised to review the Space for nature estimates to ensure that features that my Department had identified and mapped on farms existed on the ground and/or where features were missed the farmer or FAS Advisor could edit maps online to include any features omitted.

My Department's indicative estimates identified that c. 90% of farms had more than 10% Space for Nature which is the AP 1 enhanced requirement and counts as two Eco-Scheme actions. The required threshold for Eco-Schemed AP1 standard requires the farmer to have above 7% Space for Nature and this standard threshold counts as 1 Eco-Scheme action.

The Department identified a Space for Nature calculation error in late April 2023 where there was a scrub exclusion within a parcel(s). This issue was corrected in May 2023 and impacted FAS Advisors and individual farmers who had already submitted their 2023 BISS and Eco application were informed and advised what they needed to do.

Almost 70% of the 1,118 herds written to in May 2023, have already been paid their 2023 Eco-scheme. My Department is continuing to process the outstanding herds in this category and is in regular contact with FAS Advisors on this and all other matters relating to Eco-schemes.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The IT systems that my Department uses to support farm payments have undergone significant redevelopment in recent years to facilitate the multitude of new support schemes under the CAP Strategic Plan (CSP).

To manage these new schemes, completely new systems were developed which had to cater for new requirements many of which involved dealing with features on farm that had never been mapped before. One such example was hedgerows under Space For Nature within the ECO scheme. My Department mapped all relevant features on farm to assist farmers and advisors. This was particularly important as it gave farmers the opportunity to get credit for the many ecologically important features that exist and which are maintained on farm.

There is no doubt the range of scheme has put pressure on not only Department IT systems, but also farmers, advisors and the staff of my own Department. The aim always is to maximise the number of farmers paid while still ensuring that the required regulatory checks are carried out.

As evidenced by the recent payments under ACRES my Department will continue to work on the relevant IT systems to ensure farm payments will issue in a timely manner and I am confident that 2024 will see improvements in terms of payments and overall system performance. As with new CAP changes the first year is the most difficult but as systems bed in and people become more familiar with requirements the level of payments made at advance and balancing time will increase in the coming years.