The Irish Farmers Association (IFA) has called on Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon to do whatever is necessary to deliver an interim Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) payment similar to the one made in spring 2024.
Although the Department said that it is devoting all available resources to resolve the backlog, the IFA said that the “numbers just don’t stack up”, with very few payments made since mid-December.
Association deputy president Alice Doyle said that for the Minister to come out recently and say it could take months for payments to clear "absolutely beggars’ belief".
“This payment needs to be made immediately to alleviate the financial pressures on thousands of farmers around the country,” she said.
“The time for talk is over. Farmers have done the work required of them, yet they have not been paid.”
Payments
The IFA said that it is receiving calls daily into its regional offices from very stressed and frustrated farmers.
“Many are checking their agfood accounts frequently to see if their ACRES payments are coming,” added Doyle.
“Lambing and calving time is a stressful and costly time of year at the best of times, so these delays are compounding financial pressures on-farm. Many are also dealing with the clean-up after storm Éowyn.
“Farmers deserve better and certainly they shouldn’t be left in complete limbo, unable to get any confirmation or clarification from DAFM on what’s holding up their individual payments or when it’s expected to land into accounts.
“The [Department] need to honour their end of the bargain and get payments out. The interim payment was a necessary intervention this time last year. History has repeated itself and it’s needed again as a matter of priority.”
Read more
ACRES: ‘No other sector of society would accept this’ – INHFA
Schemes update: final date of 14 March for ACRES LESS declarations
ACRES payment delays ‘eroding farmers’ confidence’ in all schemes – ICSA
Department spends over €65m on IT
The Irish Farmers Association (IFA) has called on Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon to do whatever is necessary to deliver an interim Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) payment similar to the one made in spring 2024.
Although the Department said that it is devoting all available resources to resolve the backlog, the IFA said that the “numbers just don’t stack up”, with very few payments made since mid-December.
Association deputy president Alice Doyle said that for the Minister to come out recently and say it could take months for payments to clear "absolutely beggars’ belief".
“This payment needs to be made immediately to alleviate the financial pressures on thousands of farmers around the country,” she said.
“The time for talk is over. Farmers have done the work required of them, yet they have not been paid.”
Payments
The IFA said that it is receiving calls daily into its regional offices from very stressed and frustrated farmers.
“Many are checking their agfood accounts frequently to see if their ACRES payments are coming,” added Doyle.
“Lambing and calving time is a stressful and costly time of year at the best of times, so these delays are compounding financial pressures on-farm. Many are also dealing with the clean-up after storm Éowyn.
“Farmers deserve better and certainly they shouldn’t be left in complete limbo, unable to get any confirmation or clarification from DAFM on what’s holding up their individual payments or when it’s expected to land into accounts.
“The [Department] need to honour their end of the bargain and get payments out. The interim payment was a necessary intervention this time last year. History has repeated itself and it’s needed again as a matter of priority.”
Read more
ACRES: ‘No other sector of society would accept this’ – INHFA
Schemes update: final date of 14 March for ACRES LESS declarations
ACRES payment delays ‘eroding farmers’ confidence’ in all schemes – ICSA
Department spends over €65m on IT
This is a subscriber-only article
SHARING OPTIONS: