Fianna Fáil Senator Erin McGreehan has welcomed confirmation from her party colleague, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, that 112 interim ACRES payments worth over €542,000 have been made to Louth farmers. 

The interim payment has been issued to participants in Tranche 1 of the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) who have not yet received their advance payments for participation in the Scheme. The payment will be reflected in participants bank accounts in the coming days.

The overall amount being paid, in this first pay run, is €113.617 million to 23,709 ACRES participants. 

Senator McGreehan said: “It is excellent to see confirmation that those ACRES participants who have not received an advance payment under the Scheme will receive an interim payment into their bank accounts in the coming days. 

“This interim payment is welcome as work continues to process further general advance payments under ACRES. The rate of the interim payment is €4,000 for those in General and €5,000 for those in the Co-operation Project.

“The Minister and his Department have committed that these payments will be issued by the end of this month. There are, however, a small number of applications requiring further processing, and the interim payment in respect of this cohort will issue in about 10 days’ time.

“I am pleased that the officials in the Department of Agriculture will continue with the ACRES process as a key priority. This is the first year of the scheme, these payments are of enormous importance to farmers across Louth and it is vital that farmers are recognised for their environmental contributions.”

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