The Irish Natura & Hill Farmers Association have welcomed the decision to allow farmers that are deemed to have received an overpayment in ACRES the option to have these monies recovered in their next ACRES payment as opposed to the ANC payment this September.
This decision was outlined to the farming organisation by Minister McConalogue on Tuesday where they also discussed their Budget 2025 proposals.
These overpayments which currently impact over 6,000 farmers is resulting from the issuing of an interim ACRES payment last Spring which saw farmers receive a flat-rate payment rather than a specific payment to each farm based on their habitat score and measures-based actions.
Speaking on this INHFA President Vincent Roddy detailed how, this is a major move from the previous position outlined by the DAFM and welcomed the fact that “for many farmers, this move will alleviate concerns around cash-flow in September, where there are major demands at farming level and in many families, especially where there are children going back to school or attending college.”
Roddy also explained how “impacted farmers can expect correspondence from the DAFM (probably next week) offering three options. If a farmer wants to defer the recovery of monies until their next ACRES payment then they will need to notify the DAFM through a specific email, which will be outlined on the letter, requesting this.”
In relation to the next ACRES payment Roddy outlined how we were informed that it will be made this November/December.
With regard to other ACRES concerns the INHFA delegation pushed the Minister and his department officials that included Secretary General Brendan Gleeson on the need to address ongoing issues around the scheme. These points included the issuing of payment to the 13,000 farmers still awaiting a balancing payment, the issuing of the habitat scorecards and the go-ahead on actions applied for under the Non-Productive Investments (NPIs).
On the INHFA Budget proposals, the organisation pushed for additional support for the suckler sector that included a proposal for a new suckler welfare scheme to commence next year paying €200/cow.
On sheep where there is considerable concern around the ongoing fall in the price of lamb, the INHFA are seeking a €30 ewe welfare payment as part of the Sheep Improvement Scheme on the delivery of three measures which can be expanded to include measures currently included under the National Sheep Welfare Scheme.
The organisation also pushed the Minister for funding in the upcoming budget to address the Forgotten Farmer Group. This Roddy stated “is an issue that has been ongoing for some time and in our submission we have sought a budget of €20 million to address this long-running issue for the 4,000 farmers impacted. All those issues will be further discussed with the minister at INHFA AGM in Ard Ri Hotel in Tuam on Thursday 18th July”