The Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association has called on the Department of Agriculture to prioritise balancing payments for the 2023 ACRES scheme.
The association has said it will raise the issue facing over 2,000 farmers at the next Farmers Charter meeting.
ICMSA deputy president Eamon Carroll urged the Department to dedicate the time and resources necessary to addressing delays that he called “outrageous”.
“We have still have around seven per cent of farmer-participants waiting this length of time for their total payment for a scheme on which they might have spent monies up to 24 months ago,” he said.
“It’s just slack and unacceptable; there are still over one in four of Tranche 1 farmers awaiting their 2024 payment and this rises to over three in 10 for Tranche 2, and the offhand way that we learn that payments will ‘resume’ in January is way too casual and shows no sign of the urgency that should be there at this stage.”
Outstanding payments
Carroll added that the onus is on the Department to overcome the resultant disengagement and disillusionment that its own delays caused and re-commit to the ACRES scheme.
“We have said it many times, but it bears repeating: there is the core of a good scheme here and it would be a pity if the slow and unconvincing administration were to dampen the enthusiasm of farmers to enter schemes into the future.
“The Departments needs to get on this immediately and show the level of commitment and engagement that the participating farmers had every right to expect.”
Projects on fertiliser and ACRES payments to feature at BT Young Scientist