Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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389. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the ACRES payments made from 2020 to 2024 and date in 2025, by country, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13209/25]

Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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390. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the average delay in making ACRES payments from 2020 to 2024 and date in 2025, by county, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13210/25]

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 389 and 390 together.

Data in relation to lengths of time that ACRES payments have been outstanding is not held by my Department.

ACRES was implemented on a phased basis, with a commencement date of 1st January 2023 for Tranche 1 participants and 1st January 2024 for Tranche 2 participants. It is important to note that not all outstanding payments are caused by delays within my Department. The issues which are impacting on the making of payments in respect of each year are primarily:

• Contract and ownership / partnership issues,
• Issues with scorecards (incorrect score, scorecards not submitted, alignment of scorecards with BISS data), and
• Alignment of ACRES data with latest BISS information.

Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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391. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of farmers who are waiting for the co-operation areas in ACRES to be finalised, by each co-operation area, in tabular form. [13211/25]

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy has requested, the following table represents the number of farmers in each Co-operation zone awaiting the finalisation of ACRES payments in respect of the 2024 scheme year. These figures also include any participant who has not yet had their 2023 ACRES contract finalised.

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. Payment runs are scheduled every 10 days and cases will be added as they pass the required validation checks. 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.

Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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392. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when the leadership practices inventory actions for the co-operation areas under ACRES will be finalised; and the reason for the three year delay. [13212/25]

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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I understand that the Deputy is referring to the Landscape Action element of the Co-operation approach of the ACRES Scheme. ACRES has been implemented on a phased basis in view of the high level of participation and the range of opportunities available under the Scheme, all of which required the development of new and extensive IT functionality.

Non-Productive Investments (NPIs) and Landscape Actions (LAs) are important elements of the ACRES scheme. They aim to provide Co-operation participants with the opportunity to implement these complementary environmental actions as a mechanism for farmers to enhance the ecological status of their lands, thereby increasing their scores and their potential ACRES payment.

There have already been two application windows for NPIs, with decision letters for the 2023 NPI application window being issued in December 2024. Screening of the 2024 applications is ongoing.

Regarding Landscape Actions, a provisional list of these actions was published on my Department’s website in October 2024. The drafting of specifications and costing of the actions is at an advanced stage. It will also be necessary to undertake an Appropriate Assessment as required under environmental legislation, with rollout currently estimated to take place in Quarter 2 or Quarter 3 of 2025.

Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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393. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason for the delays in ACRES payments across Kerry; the measures he is taking to address this; his plans to simplify and expedite the process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13213/25]

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 change in implementing such an innovative and ambitious scheme, and 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 from all twenty six counties, including those in county Kerry. 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. 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 under 81% of participants have been paid their advance payment in respect of their participation in the Scheme in 2024.

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 are taking place every 10 days in order to ensure that these payments are issued in a timely manner.

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.

Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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394. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine further to Parliamentary Question No. 862 of 5 February 2025, if all outstanding GLAS and ACRES payments have been made; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13214/25]

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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A total of €247.4 million has been paid to 42,631 participants (25,537 General and 17,094 Co-operation), or 95% of all ACRES participants, in respect of their participation in ACRES in 2023. Consequentially, 2,302 farmers have yet to receive their final payments for 2023. Of these, 2,008 have already received an interim payment of either €4,000 or €5,000, respectively.

I can confirm that advance payments totalling €188.9 million have now been paid to 43,822 farmers in respect of their participation in ACRES in 2024. This number of recipients represents just under 81% of all ACRES participants. Advance payments in respect of scheme participation in 2024 have still to be made to 10,453 ACRES participants across Tranches 1 and 2.

My Department is continuing to progress the contracts awaiting final payment in respect of 2023 and/or advance payment in respect of 2024, with the target of having as many as possible cleared by May 2025, with the most complex cases to be finalised in June 2025 at the latest.

With regard to GLAS, I can confirm that 226 herdowners are due a GLAS payment. This can be categorised as follows:

• 61 herdowners are owed an advance and/or balance payment for one or multiple Scheme years,
• 165 GLAS 3 herdowners are owed 2022 Rare Breed payment to finalise their 2022 Scheme Year payment, as the Rare Breeds payment issued a year in arrears.