John Connolly (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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384. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of applicants to ACRES from whom his Department is now seeking repayments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13049/25]

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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There are currently 171 herdowners with ACRES overpayments outstanding, of which 97 are part of the General stream and 74 are part of the Co-operation stream.

As the Deputy may be aware, it was announced in February 2024 that an interim payment would be made to support those Tranche 1 participants who had not yet received their advance payment in respect of 2023. ACRES General participants received an interim payment of €4,000 and ACRES Co-operation participants received an interim payment of €5,000.

My Department wrote to all participants receiving an interim payment at the end of February 2024 to advise that the 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 by their advisor. It was also advised that, if the ACRES payment calculation amounted to less than the interim payment, the difference/shortfall would be shown on the participant's Department account as a debt, which would be offset against future payments.

My Department issued letters outlining the options available to each participant who had received an overpayment. It has offered a flexible approach in the collection of these overpayments, and has encouraged any farmer not in a position to make the full refund, or to have it recovered from the next DAFM payment, to engage with my Department in relation to alternative payment arrangements. These include the possibility to recover the outstanding amount from the next ACRES payment.