Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

246. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will ensure that balancing payments for ACRES will issue without delay; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37172/24]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

247. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when advance payments for ACRES 2024 will issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37173/24]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 246 and 247 together.

Balancing payments in respect of participation in ACRES in 2023 started to issue in mid-June 2024. Payments have now been finalised in respect of just over 36,400 participants, with as many as possible of the remainder to be paid by the end of September 2024, as and when contracts are cleared. Payments will continue to issue on a regular basis as cases pass all required validations. I should also say that by the end of March, almost all ACRES Tranche I applicants had received either a 85% advance payment or an interim payment of either €4,000 or €5,000.

ACRES advance payments in respect of participation in the Scheme in 2024 are scheduled to commence in November 2024, with the process informed by, and benefiting from, the experience gained from the processing of the 2023 scheme year payments.