The clawback on interim Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) payments should be suspended until non-productive investments (NPIs) have been approved and scores published, Sinn Féin has said.

The party's spokesperson on agriculture Martin Kenny said farmers have been contacted with requests for a repayment of some of their interim ACRES payment where there was overpayment, despite many farmers still being without information on their scoring or approval for NPIs.

“This scheme appears to be very complicated, so much so that the Department themselves are clearly unable to administer it. The Minister [for Agriculture] needs to get a handle on this sooner rather than later.

“While he attempts to do this, he must suspend any clawbacks until farmers have all the information in relation to their scheme - including their score and whether they have received approval for NPIs.

“This scheme is results-based and the Department needs to provide results to farmers so they know how they can improve their score as the scheme progresses,” he said.

Application

Kenny added that many farmers applied for NPIs in December 2023.

“We are now in the summer of 2024 and farmers still haven’t received information on their scheme scores or a decision on approval for their NPIs.

“These ongoing delays are causing confusion and farmers are losing confidence in the scheme,” he said.