Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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474. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine whether an IT issue is interfering with ACRES payments; when this will be resolved; when outstanding payments will be made to farmers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4015/25]

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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ACRES is the first scheme of its kind to upscale results-based payments to a national level. This is a significant advancement in implementing such an innovative and ambitious scheme, but it has come with complexities and challenges.

There is significant work involved in the verification of payment claims, and in the calculation and issuing of payments to over 54,000 participants. Most of these applications consist of a number of actions, or there may be a number of different habitats to be assessed, and multiple scorecards to be completed and submitted.

Certain issues such as transfers of contracts, late or non-submission of scorecards, and alignment of ACRES information with data held by the Department on other IT systems, have contributed to the delay in the making of those payments. Work is ongoing to resolve these issues, and every effort is being made to process outstanding payments as quickly as possible.

We have made significant progress in 2024. Almost all ACRES participants have received a payment (either interim or final) in respect of their participation in the Scheme in 2023, and remaining balancing payments continue to be processed. In addition, just over 75 % of participants have been paid their 2024 advance payment. This is a reflection of the progress that has been made in the delivery of the required IT systems.

As is the case with all EU co-funded schemes, claims for payments under ACRES must pass regulatory controls and validations before payment can issue.

My Department is continuing to investigate and progress all cases that have not yet received payments. As these are resolved, they are added to the next scheduled pay run. Pay runs recommenced in January 2025, and fortnightly pay runs are taking place in order to ensure that these payments are issued in a timely manner. I can assure you that everything is being done to pay, as soon as possible, all ACRES participants who clear the required pre-payment validation checks.