Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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515. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if the clarification sought by a person (details supplied) on the status of their ACRES payment can be provided; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41532/24]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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An approval letter issued to the person named, dated 8th March 2023 for the ACRES Co-operation Project stream. It was advised in this letter to contact the ACRES CP Section in writing or by email, within 14 calendar days from the date of the approval letter, if the letter did not reflect the application; otherwise, it was taken that the applicant had accepted the offer and associated Terms & Conditions. No contact was received from the person named in this time period.

I have made further enquiries with regard to parcel number Y19104093, and can confirm that this parcel was not included at the time of application. Further investigation has also confirmed that this parcel is not within a designated CP zone.

Once an application is submitted, it cannot be amended, as per Circular 6/2022 and 12/2022. Unfortunately, it will not now be possible to reopen the application for this herd number and to make amendments and additions to the actions included at the time of application. Therefore, it will not be possible to add parcel Y19104093 to the application at this stage.

However, the person named can apply for Non Productive Investments (NPIs) and Landscape Actions. The NPI Specifications outline which actions can be applied for on non-CP land. The specifications are available on the Department's website.

Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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516. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason a farmer in County Kerry (details supplied) had a significant reduction applied to their 2024 ACRES payment; if this reduction will be reviewed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41548/24]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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An application was received in the name of this herdowner for the Co-Operation stream of ACRES Tranche 1.

As the Deputy will be aware, a decision was made in early 2024 to issue an interim payment to any ACRES Tranche 1 participant that had not yet received an advance payment for scheme year 2023. A payment of €5,000 issued to the person named at the end of February 2024.

My Department wrote to all recipients of the interim payment to advise that their final ACRES Year 1 payments would be based on the ACRES actions approved in their contract and, where results-based actions are included, the scores assigned to the relevant land. They were also advised that an overpayment would arise if the final ACRES amount calculated came to less than the amount of their interim payment.

In this case, the total contract value for the 2023 scheme year amounted to €1,547.46, which resulted in an overpayment, as this was less than the interim payment of €5,000. Accordingly, a letter issued to the participant regarding the overpayment of €3,452.54. This letter outlined the options available to them with regard to repayment.

I ensured that my Department provided a flexible approach in the collection of these overpayments, that encourages any farmer not in a position to make the full refund, or to have it recovered from the next DAFM payment, to engage with the Department in relation to alternative payment arrangements. This includes the possibility to recover the outstanding amount from the next ACRES payment.

Please see breakdown below in respect of the relevant payments for the 2023 Scheme year.