Minister asked to defend ‘real progress’ remark while thousands await ACRES
The IFA president questioned how the minister could say ‘real progress’ was being made when there are still thousands awaiting ACRES payments.
Agricultural minister Martin Heydon revealed the latest figure during a Seanad debate on Ireland’s five-year €9.8bn Irish CAP strategic plan, with €6bn of it targeted at supporting farm incomes.
However, the IFA president, Francie Gorman, later claimed the minster was out of touch and disconnected from the stress and financial hardship endured by farm families because of his department’s failure to deliver payments in the ACRES scheme as contracted.
Mr Heydon told the Seanad that some 14,500 farmers who had encountered significant difficulties with their applications were unpaid when he took over the role.
But real progress was now being made, he added. It was his intention to have most of these cases resolved, cleared, and paid by the end of May — with the most difficult and problematic ones to be cleared by the end of June.
“That is a commitment I am sticking to. I review those figures every week. I am keeping a very close eye on it and publishing these figures very regularly as well,” he said.
Reacting to the comments, Mr Gorman asked how the minister could say “real progress” was being made when there are still thousands awaiting ACRES payments.
“These payments were due last November, with over 2,000 of these awaiting balancing 2023 payments as well," he said.
IFA rural development chair John Curran said farmers are being forced to sell breeding stock just to keep the show on the road. That’s how serious it is through no fault of their own, he added.
“Farmers entered ACRES in good faith. They have incurred costs and did what was required of them. The department needs to do the same now. Enough reputational damage, to the department and the ACRES scheme, has occurred already,” he said.
The need for CAP schemes to be simplified and red tape reduced was highlighted by several speakers during the debate in the Upper House, with senator Paraic Brady claiming that a person would want to be an accountant and have a degree in bookkeeping to fill out the forms.
“The whole sector is now top-heavy in paperwork. Unless you have a farm adviser or are paying somebody, these schemes are mind boggling to say the least.
“What I am asking for is that, in the new scheme, we have simplification and let farmers go back to what they do best — that is: To produce food,” he said.
Senator Mark Duffy said the LEADER programme has the potential to be a brilliant asset to communities across the country. However, the bureaucracy, difficulty, and challenges people face in administering the programme cannot be overstated.
"The application process needs to be a much smoother and grassroots-orientated policy which meets the needs of communities,” he said.
Senator Victor Boyhan said the strategic plan under the CAP aims to protect farm incomes, support climate goals, and recognise farmers as hard-working — regardless of where they live in a county or country.
The complexity of the CAP schemes was described by senator Joanne Collins as one of the biggest frustrations that farmers face.
Time and again, they had seen schemes introduced that were overly complicated, poorly communicated, and riddled with delays.
Calling for a simplification of the agri-schemes so that farmers get the payments they are entitled to on time and without unnecessary bureaucracy, she said the Department of Agriculture needs to work with farmers — not against them — to ensure schemes are practical, transparent, and effective.
Senator Teresa Costello said a well-funded CAP is essential to supporting farm incomes, ensuring food security, and contributing meaningfully to broader EU objectives.
These include tackling climate change, promoting biodiversity, and driving innovation in the agriculture sector.
Claiming that the bureaucracy surrounding the CAP and the delay in ACRES payments only adds insult to injury, senator Sarah O’Reilly said farmers are strangled by paperwork and are fighting red tape and a bureaucratic system with inspections at every turn.
Senator Noel O’Donovan, noting that agriculture is estimated to bring €6.3bn to the local economy in Cork, said this is “only one of the reasons we need to do everything we can to support the industry and work on transitioning to a greener future in a sustainable manner”.
