As the Deputy will be aware, ACRES is the flagship environmental scheme provided under the CAP Strategic Plan 2023-2027 with €1.5 billion in Exchequer and EU funding allocated over the course of the scheme. Payments in respect of farmers' participation in the ACRES scheme continue to issue on a weekly basis as cases pass all validation checks. Last week, I announced that balancing payments in respect of the 2024 scheme year have commenced with more than €33 million issuing to 42,444 participants. A total of €490 million has issued since ACRES payments commenced at the end of 2023. However, I am acutely aware that others are still awaiting payments. This is a source of great frustration for me. I have been dealing with it since the minute I assumed this role. In the case of the 2023 scheme year, 97% of participants have been paid in full. As regards 2024, 90% of participants have received their advance payments and almost 88% of these have now received a balancing payment. To be clear, my Department is committed to resolving the issues that have been delaying the remaining payments as soon as possible and is making progress in this regard. I know that is cold comfort if you are one of the few who still have not been sorted. We have made significant progress and built momentum, which I continue to do.

I had the fortunate opportunity to study at Mountbellew Agricultural College over the past two years for my level 5 and level 6 qualifications. I met many young farmers who want to get involved in their family farms and to be part of the farming future of Ireland but we have to bring them with us. We have to show them that if they sign up for a scheme that will commit to paying them X amount, they need to be assured of payment on time. In no other profession would people accept delayed payment. I know the Minister is working through it and the Department is making inroads.

When I assumed this role, it was not acceptable to me to meet so many farmers where in many instances, the fault was with the Department. In some instances, it was with themselves for various reasons but in the majority of cases, it has been on our side. I have visited Johnstown Castle and have engaged directly with the officials. I have directed additional resources into the units. I have got down into the detail of the different cohorts and how they are affected. One reason it takes time to fix this is that I am not willing to have a quick fix that needs a manual intervention every year. I want to make sure that the resolution here means that this problem does not recur every year. That is why we are getting through this and I stick to the commitments I made previously to resolve this as quickly as possible.