The Irish Farmers' Association - IFA

Lobbying Organisation The Irish Farmers' Association - IFA

Date published 18 Jan, 2024

Relevant Matter Matters involving public funds

Public Policy Area Agriculture

Period 1 Sep, 2023 to 31 Dec, 2023

Specific Details Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES)

Intended results To challenge the Department who promised that ACRES payments would commence end-November. It's included in the Farmers Charter of Rights document which was issued last week. It is not acceptable to announce now that payments will be delayed until February 2024, at a time when owed bills are mounting, and Christmas less than three weeks away. To highlight that ACRES, its design and payment composition has not materially changed since first launched. How are the Department not in a position to execute payments on time, again? - Much was made at yesterdays meeting about the ambition within the Department with regard ACRES; the complexity of the scheme and need to preserve payment integrity. That is all well and good, but it is of no value to farm families waiting on their payment. It's a complete failure on the side of the Department that payments are being pushed out. And it doesn't have to be. - Section 34.3 of the ACRES Tranche 1 Terms & Conditions T&C's provides that ‘The Minister reserves the right to alter from time to time the procedures to be followed in the operation of the Scheme'. That time is now, and as Minister in charge, we are calling on you to intervene and quickly resolve this issue. To call on the Minister for Agriculture, Food, and the Marine to deliver an interim ACRES payments to all participants before Christmas. The financial consequences and emotional stress, for the most vulnerable cohort of farmers in our sector, will be detrimental otherwise. To propose that the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine issues 85% advance payments to all ACRES participants from 18th December, with any divergences / anomalies taken from balancing payments (& where required in Year 2 payments) to preserve payment integrity; To highlight that Section 16.4 of the scheme Terms & Conditions permits the use of Indicative scores in Year 1 for Commonages. This flexibility should be executed but also extended to all scorable measures, so as to ensure some form of payment is received by all ACRES participants pre-Christmas. As above, the balancing payment can be used to rectify any divergences and still preserve payment integrity overall. - Flexibility is provided for in Year 1 of the scheme and full maximum payment for ACRES General (€7.3k) and ACRES Co-Operation (€10.5k) is issued in Year 1 where exact payments cannot be derived. To insist that results of scoring exercises must be provided to farmers, with the Non-Productive Investments / Landscape Action application window extended to enable farmers to more fully preserve payments, where scoring derived is less than anticipated. To insist that an Interest payment – equivalent to 1% per day from 30th Nov to receipt of ACRES payment, similar to the cuts applied for late BISS applications - should be provided to participants to compensate for any delay in farm payments. To highlight that the average Hill farming incomes, per Teagasc estimates, averaged only approximately one-third of all farms in 2022 (€16.3k vs 44.9k). Many simply do not have the financial resources to be able to absorb another delay in payment. Farmers cannot be disadvantaged because of inefficiencies elsewhere.

Name of person primarily responsible for lobbying on this activity Tim Cullinan IFA President, Alice Doyle IFA Farm Family Chair, Caillin Conneely IFA Hill Chair, Tom Lane IFA Clare Co. Chair, Adrian Brooks IFA Clare Vice Chair Stephen Walsh IFA Clare Rural Development Chair, Tom Costello IFA Clare County Secretary, Darren Sheehy IFA Clare Regional Executive, John Fitzgerald IFA Clare Forestry Chair, Thomas Holmes IFA Clare Sheep Chair, Shane Whelan IFA Senior Policy Executive,

Did any Designated Public Official(DPO) or former Designated Public Official(DPO) carry out lobbying activities on your behalf in relation to this return? You must include yourself, and answer Yes, if you are a current DPO or a DPO at any time in the past. (What is a Designated Public Official?) No

Did you manage or direct a grassroots campaign? No

Was this lobbying done on behalf of a client? No

Lobbying activity

The following activities occurred for this specific Subject Matter Area.

Phone call (2-5)

Letter (1)

Email (6-10)

Social Media (2-5)

Meeting (6-10)

Informal communication (2-5)

Designated public officials lobbied

The following DPOs were lobbied during this return period on this specific Subject Matter Area. These DPOs were involved in at least one of the Lobbying Activities listed above, but not necessarily all of them. As returns are specific to a Subject Matter Area the above Lobbying Activities may be associated with multiple returns.

Aindrias Moynihan TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Alan Dillon TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Alan Kelly TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Amii McKeever Adviser to Minister (Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine)

Bernard Durkan TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Carol Nolan TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Cathal Berry TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Cathal Crowe TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Charlie McConalogue Minister (Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine)

Christopher O'Sullivan TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Colm Burke TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Denis Naughten TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Eugene Murphy Senator (Seanad)

Fiona O'Loughlin Senator (Seanad)

Holly Cairns TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

James O'Connor TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Jennifer Murnane O'Connor TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Jennifer Whitmore TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Joe Carey TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Malcolm Byrne Senator (Seanad)

Martin Conway Senator (Seanad)

Michael Collins TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Michael McNamara TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Michael Ring TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Niamh Smyth TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Paul Kehoe TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Róisín Garvey Senator (Seanad)

Tim Lombard Senator (Seanad)

Timmy Dooley Senator (Seanad)

Victor Boyhan Senator (Seanad)

Violet Anne Wynne TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Barry Andrews MEP (European Parliament)

Billy Kelleher MEP (European Parliament)

Chris MacManus MEP (European Parliament)

Ciarán Cuffe MEP (European Parliament)

Clare Daly MEP (European Parliament)

Colm Markey MEP (European Parliament)

Deirdre Clune MEP (European Parliament)

Frances Fitzgerald MEP (European Parliament)

Grace O'Sullivan MEP (European Parliament)

Luke Ming Flanagan MEP (European Parliament)

Maria Walsh MEP (European Parliament)

Mick Wallace MEP (European Parliament)

Sean Kelly MEP (European Parliament)

Malcolm Byrne Senator (Seanad)