Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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700. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the grant aid available to developers of biomethane plants; if grant aid has yet been made available to any developers; if the total amount of grant aid made available can be specified; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7220/25]

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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My Department together with the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications co-published an agri centric National Biomethane Strategy in May of 2024. This was Ireland’s first major policy statement on biomethane and is an important milestone in the development of an indigenous sector.

As committed to under the Strategy, my Department opened the first capital grant programme for the industry last Summer. €40 million of funding approved for this scheme has been sourced from the EU funded Recovery and Resilience Programme.

Capital grant letters of offer issued to 18 applicants in September 2024. Successful applicants that meet the scheme eligibility and selection criteria are in line to receive grant aid at a rate of 20% of eligible investment costs, up to a maximum of €5 million. No payment has been made to date. It is envisaged that the majority of the funding available will be drawn down in early 2026.

A successful biomethane industry will assist farmers with the decarbonisation of agriculture, while also providing diversification opportunities for farmers.

Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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701. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the total value of payments under ACRES that are currently delayed; the number of individual farmers impacted by delayed payments; when the delays first began; the plans he has in place to address these delays and ensure farmers get their payments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7259/25]

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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It is not possible to calculate the value of payments that have not yet issued for the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES). As the Deputy may be aware, results based scoring is included within ACRES. Until these scores are converted to a monetary value within the payment system and other factors taken into account, such as changes to parcels, it is not possible to determine the final value of an ACRES contract.

Currently, a total of €247.1 million has been paid to 42,182 participants (25,322 General and 16,860 Co-operation), or 94 % of all ACRES participants, in respect of their participation in ACRES in 2023. Approximately 2,764 ACRES contracts have not been finalised for 2023. However, the vast majority of these participants have already received either an advance or an interim payment for that scheme year.

In respect of the 2024 scheme year, 42,128 active participants, representing just under 78% of active participating herds, have now received their advance payments, totalling €181.75 million. This figure comprises 34,667 Tranche 1 participants and 7,461 Tranche 2 participants. A remaining 12,068 herds await their 2024 advance payment.

There are a number of reasons impacting the timeliness of those payments, including instances where farmers have applied to transfer their contracts, issues in relation to the submission of scorecards for the results-based payment and the completion of outstanding IT functionality. The ongoing payment runs, which are taking place on a fortnightly basis for all cases that have passed the required validation checks, are evidence that this work is being prioritised, and that issues are being resolved as quickly as possible.

My Department will be issuing regular online updates over the coming period on the progress being made, with the overarching objective of having all outstanding payments in respect of farmers’ participation in ACRES in 2023 and 2024 made by the end of June.