Many farmers 'giving serious consideration' to leaving ACRES
The Irish Farmers' Association has said it is receiving "more and more calls from frustrated farmers" with concerns related to the scheme.
Many farmers are "giving serious consideration" to leaving the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES), Ireland's flagship agri-environment scheme.
The Irish Farmers' Association has said it is receiving "more and more calls from frustrated farmers" with concerns related to the scheme.
The association's hill farming chairman Caillin Conneely has urged Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue "to intervene and quickly remove whatever obstacles are withholding balancing ACRES payments to hill farmers and those in ACRES co-operation zones".
"Many are giving serious consideration to leaving the scheme altogether. The scheme has fallen flat on its face," Mr Conneely said.
“Cashflow is becoming more and more an issue on farms. Farmers need their ACRES payments today.
“We were told it was coming in May, then June, and more recently all would be sorted before end of September. The goalposts keep moving.
"It’s just not good enough, and the timeline of backlog clearances doesn’t inspire confidence either. Over 10,000 farmers are still waiting on their balancing payments, and not many were paid in the last month."
Mr Conneely said that farmers entered the scheme "in good faith", and invested in planners and environmental actions.
However, many now "find themselves not knowing where they stand, when they will get paid, or even if they have to pay back money".
“The scoring seems to be extremely harsh on many commonages too, compounded by 100m exclusions around turbary activity," he continued.
"Given the calamity that is ACRES thus far, maximum flexibility should apply. The exclusion zone should be considerably reduced.
“We will be engaging with the department seeking an urgent meeting of the Charter Monitoring Committee to get greater clarity and a speedy resolution."
