ACRES Delays Compound Financial Hardship for Farmers

Commenting on the Teagasc National Farm Survey, IFA Hill Farming chair Caillin Conneely has called on Minister McConalogue and his officials to quickly intervene and prioritise supports to alleviate the financial pressure on hill and sheep farms in the upcoming Budget.

“These figures are particularly stark, and really bring home the financial pressures across all sectors. For sheep farmers, incomes were back 22% to only €12,625. That’s only about a quarter of the average industrial wage, and that’s the average. There are many more sheep and hill farmers on less, and they have all the challenges and costs. It’s just not economically sustainable,” he said.

‘It hammers home, too, the consequences of the delayed ACRES payments and the impact of lost payments from Non-Productive Investments/Landscape Actions. It also emphasises the need for the Department to fully honour commitments at the recent Charter meeting that the Department would apply maximum flexibility around recouping any excess interim payment received,” he said. 

They need to get balancing payments out to all the 13,000-plus Tranche 1 applicants as quickly as possible and devote whatever resources are needed to sort out the mess with Non-Productive Investments. Applications closed last December.

“We were promised up to €10,500 each year for the five years of the scheme, but at this stage it’s looking like it could be year 3 before the Department deliver on their promises. It’s just not good enough, and the figures published show why. Farmers depend on these payments to keep going. The Department need to get their house in order, and urgently,” he said.

“Budget 2025 gives the Minister and his officials a chance to demonstrate they truly understand the challenges farmers are currently enduring. They should pay all ACRES CP farmers their €10,500 for this year. It’s not the farmers fault that the NPIs are not out, nor that applications for Landscape Actions aren’t open,” he concluded.