THE ongoing delay in ACRES payments – in some cases up to 18-months – has been described as ‘a disgrace and beyond belief’ by a Galway farm representative.

Stephen Canavan, Galway IFA Chair, said that IT [information technology] was being cited as the main reason for the delay – an excuse that he said was ‘unacceptable and beyond a joke’.

“I wonder would the Department officials in Johnstown Castle in Wexford, who are responsible for processing these payments, wait for one week if their salaries were not being paid.

“Farmers went into ACRES in complete good faith and in most cases had made significant changes to their farming practices to comply with the scheme.

“Now, around 16,000 applicants are still waiting for their payments – it’s an absolute nightmare,” said Stephen Canavan.

He said that at a political level there was an acceptance that these delays should not be happening, but the Department officials seemed to be a law onto themselves as regards processing those payments.

“It does make you wonder. There were 16,000 additional places allocated in ACRES and this is the exact same number that are now waiting on payments. It may be time for farmers to get on the bus and get down to Johnstown Castle,” said Stephen Canavan.

This week, the Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association [INHFA] President, Vincent Roddy, said that many farmers had received no payment since the interim one in February of last year.

“IT issues within the Dept. of Agriculture are being cited as the main reason for the delay in processing payments but now farmers are fed-up with excuses.

“If the system is not capable of achieving this, then the Department must identify a way to manually process payments.”

“If this is the most effective way, then the necessary staff must be made available and we are calling on newly elected Minister, Martin Heydon, to ensure this happens,” said Vincent Roddy.

He added that given the ongoing problems with the Non Productive Investments [NPIs], it now seemed that there was no element of the scheme that actually worked.

“With 2,000 farmers still awaiting balancing payments – and many others still awaiting their first payment for 2024 – ACRES hasn’t just failed them, but has left some farmers needing to take out loans to pay outstanding bills.

“This has caused undue stress whilst also having a negative impact on the mental health of the affected farmers,” said Vincent Roddy.

Pictured: Stephen Canavan: ACRES is ‘beyond a joke’.