Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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313. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason for the ongoing delays in the issuing of ACRES scheme payments; the number of participants currently awaiting payment; and the steps being taken to expedite processing. [21908/25]

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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Following the latest payment run on 25 April 2025, 43,368 ACRES participants, or just under 97%, are fully paid in respect of the 2023 scheme year. This means that 1,492 participants have not yet had their 2023 contract finalised, of which 1,198 have already received an interim payment of either €4,000 or €5,000, respectively.

In relation to the 2024 scheme year, 47,477 participants, which represents just under 88%, have now received their advance payment. 6,700 farmers are awaiting their 2024 advance payment.

The issues which are impacting on the making of payments in respect of each year are primarily the transfers of contracts, late or non-submission of scorecards, and alignment of ACRES information with data held by the Department on other IT systems. My Department is actively resolving the remaining issues through, for example, the development of the required IT functionality and the investigation of issues associated with specific contracts. In some cases, action is required by the participant to progress the payment claim.

In addition, a dedicated team has been put in place to complete the outstanding 2023 cases, and resources are being allocated, where required, to ensure that remaining payments are made as soon as possible. Payments will continue to issue on a weekly basis as cases pass all required validation checks.

My Department will continue to issue regular online updates over the coming period on the progress being made, with the expectation of having the vast majority of payments in respect of farmers’ participation in ACRES in 2023 and 2024 made by the end of May 2025, with the remaining more complex cases paid by the end of June 2025.