Press release
McConalogue secures places for all applicants into Tranche 2 of ACRES
From Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Published on
Last updated on
The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, has today confirmed that all applicants for Tranche 2 of the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) will be accepted into the Scheme.
By securing places for all 9,000 applicants into the second tranche, Minister McConalogue has put in place not only the best funded agri environment scheme ever, but also one of the largest, with 55,000 farmers now facilitated to participate.
The Minister said:
“The level of interest shown by farmers in the ACRES Scheme since its launch has been hugely encouraging in terms of farmers engagement with environmental action. I was adamant that none of this engagement and ambition would be left behind.”
ACRES is the government’s flagship agri-environmental scheme, with an allocation of €1.5 billion over the period to 2027 aimed at facilitating the participation of 50,000 farmers in significant and targeted environmental action over a five-year period. Last year, in response to the exceptional demand for places, Minister McConalogue admitted more than 46,000 farmers under Tranche 1 of the scheme. When the second Tranche of the scheme closed for applications in December 2023 a further 9,000 applications had been received.
The Minister said:
“The ambition of farmers had to be recognised and so I engaged with the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform to explore all options to facilitate farmers.
“This week, following further meetings between our two departments, I was delighted to reach an agreement with Minister Donohoe that all applicants to Tranche 2 can be accepted into the Scheme. This matches farmers’ commitment to the environment with the government’s own commitment. This is tangible, quantifiable delivery for the country and will, for example, mean that an additional area of approximately 100,000 hectares will be brought into meaningful environmental action. I want to thank Minister Donohoe for his engagement in achieving this positive result."
Concluding, the Minister said:
“My department will be in touch with all Tranche 2 applicants in due course in relation to their participation in the Scheme. I look forward to seeing the additional environmental dividend that will be realised by this decision over the duration of the Scheme."