Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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156. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason a person (details supplied) is not receiving the full entitlements of ACRES; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24712/25]

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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The person named submitted an application under the ACRES General stream and was approved into Tranche 1 of the scheme, with a commencement date of 1st January 2023. An interim payment of €4,000 issued to the herd owner in March 2024 in respect of their participation in Scheme Year 2023.

To date this case has not passed the 2023 balance payment validations. 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. Once the payment claim for 2023 is finalised, the case will then progress to validation checks for the 2024 advance payment.

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.

As cases are resolved, they are added to the next scheduled pay run. Pay runs are now taking place weekly in order to ensure that these payments are issued in a timely manner.