Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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53. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to provide an update on the agri-climate rural environment scheme, ACRES, payments, including the number of farms which have been scored so far. [38401/24]

Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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This is my first opportunity to be here for Question Time as my party's spokesperson on agriculture. I am delighted to hold the brief. The way was well ploughed by Deputy Kerrane, who was spokesperson before me. I am delighted to be here this morning.

I want to ask the Minister about ACRES payments and get information on the number of farmers who have been scored for the scheme so far, the number who have received their scores and the payments they have received. Many farmers around the country who have been involved in this very important scheme to enhance biodiversity feel very much at a loss. They also feel that the Department has let them down regarding their payments and scores and in the context of opportunities to enhance their scores in the future.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Deputy Kenny very much. I wish him well and congratulate him on being appointed as Opposition spokesperson on agriculture, food and the marine. I look forward to working with him. We both worked on the same side of the House previously. He has extensive experience and an understanding of the sector. I acknowledge the significant contribution made by Deputy Kerrane as Opposition spokesperson during her time. I wish her well also in her new spokesperson role.

I thank Deputy Kenny for his question on ACRES. It is appropriate that this is the first question we are dealing with today because it is such an important scheme. It is one that has seen some challenges in the course of the past year with the roll-out of the first year of the scheme. I am very determined to make sure that these challenges are addressed and not repeated as we go into the second year of the scheme.

Last year was the first year of the new Common Agricultural Policy, CAP. All of the schemes were new – the suckler scheme, the sheep scheme, ACRES, the organic scheme, the targeted agricultural modernisation scheme, TAMS, etc. By and large, the introduction of all of the schemes worked pretty well, or as well as we could have hoped. The payment dates that were set last year were largely adhered to. The one challenge has been ACRES. In many ways, it is not a surprise that it would be because it is the most administratively complex one. It is also the scheme that is most impacted by the fact that the CAP at European level had to adjust to a results-based approach, as opposed to the previous compliance approach. There have been challenges with the payments and there has also been disappointment with some of the scoring.

My objective is to make sure the scheme works well for everyone. This is the reason I made sure that everyone who applied in the first and second tranches was accepted. It is also the reason I intervened when there were delays with payments . I did so to ensure that everybody who had not received their advance payment by the end of last year got an interim payment of either €4,000 or €5,000 at the start of this year instead. This is the first time that ever happened. We are now working our way through the balancing payments. Some 82% got their balancing payment as of the end of last month.

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister. He will get more time to respond later.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Everybody is working towards the objective of achieving 95% of balancing payments being paid by the end of this month.

Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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I appreciate that. I understand that the reason for the interim payment was because of the delays and difficulties, but I come back to the point that very many farmers do not know what scores they were awarded. They have seven to ten plots but they do not know the score for each plot. As the Minister is aware, they also have an opportunity to enhance those scores through non-productive investments, NPIs, whereby they can do fencing, gates, hedging or whatever else. They do not know where they stand in that respect either because it is not open to them yet, although they are rolling into the next year. Some of them have had a second round of inspections and they still do not know the results of the first round. The co-operation element seems to be the most difficult aspect to try and sort out. Matters seem to be somewhat easier when it comes to the general scheme, but there are problems with this as well.

One of the issues we have - this relates to all agriculture sectors - is that every time schemes are rolled out by the Department, there are delays and difficulties. People cannot get payments and they do not know where they stand. If there is even a small problem, their money is held up. This seems to be an ongoing issue with the Department that one of the Ministers needs to deal with.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I know what it is like to have delayed payments and to wait for payments to arrive because I grew up on a family farm where our income was based on the activity relating to the farm. That is why I have given such attention to making sure there are no issues with payments. Farmers had certainty last year as to what the dates would be. We gave the dates last March and we adhered to all of them. There were very high payment percentages on those dates. The one exception was ACRES.

Understanding the importance of payments and the fact that people were waiting for them, for the first time ever I took the step of issuing interim payments because I wanted farmers to get as close to the majority of their payment as possible. We issued payments of either €4,000 or €5,000. Some 82% had their balancing payment by the end of last month. We hope it will be 95% by the end of this month. In some cases, when an interim payment is made, given that it is a blunt instrument, as such, and I wanted to give a strong interim payment, there were some situations of overpayment. We are putting measures in place to understand the position of farmers as much as possible in that regard.

In regard to the scoring, 35,000 scorecards have now been issued. We need to get the rest of them issued. Co-operation, CP, teams are also engaging with farmers and holding meetings on the scores for commonages. That has been a challenging process. I accept that farmers need to get their scores so that they know what steps they can take.

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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In terms of those who have applied for NPIs, we expect them to be approved by the end of this year, so that farmers can do the work next year. The scheme has reopened for new NPIs. We expect those to be processed in a timely fashion now that the scheme is up and running.

Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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Does the Minister think it was fair to write to farmers demanding money back when they still did not know their score? That is one of the big gripes that many farmers have. They got the interim payment and the next contact they had from the Department was not to tell them where they stood or what the future would hold, but a letter demanding some of that money back - in some cases up to 80% of it.

As the Minister is aware, I come from a part of the country where there is low-intensity agriculture. Farmers survive on land that is in an area of natural constraint where we would expect the scores to be quite high, yet they were getting large demands for money back. There is a level of inconsistency here. That is one of the big problems farmers have with every scheme. This scheme has been particularly bad.

When farmers sign up for a scheme, they want to buy a tractor, build a shed or get a loan, knowing in their head that every year they are going to get a certain amount of money from the scheme and that it is going to be there. That is what they expect, yet with this scheme in particular they do not know where they stand. That is one of the difficulties we have. I have a question later on the future of agriculture. As we look to the future for family farming, we must have schemes in place on which farmers can rely. This scheme is certainly one farmers cannot rely on.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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That is one of the challenges of a results-based scheme. I want to give farmers as much certainty as I possibly can in terms of the schemes I put in place. For example, with the suckler and calf schemes, I gave farmers a very clear task to carry out in order to get paid, whether it be weighing, clipping or dipping. We give as much certainty as we can. The environmental scheme must be results based under the new CAP and therefore it is dependent on scores. Like the farmer, I do not know what the score might be. There is uncertainty in regard to the first year. While overall the averages have worked out as expected, there are differences within them. That can also impact on the interim payment, which I gave because I wanted to get money to farmers as quickly as I could. If a score is low, there may be an overpayment. I put in place as much facilitation as I could so that the overpayment would be deducted from future ACRES payments. As soon as we know what a farmer's payment will be, there is an obligation to communicate that to them, not to demand that they would pay it but to bring clarity for them and also to give their balancing payment, if one is due, or else if there is an overpayment to give them the option to have it deducted from their next ACRES payment rather than any other payment. I want to be as flexible as I possibly can, but there is no taking away from the fact that the CP schemes in particular are score based and there is uncertainty about them in the first year. I want it to be a positive experience for every farmer.

Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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What about the second year?

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The score relates to the first year.

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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We must move on.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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As much as possible, I want it to be a positive experience. I am assessing the situation. I am open to all ideas as to how we can make sure ACRES works to the best extent possible for everyone.