Local Fianna Fáil TD Brendan Smith has welcomed further detail from his party colleague and Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue, on the interim payment to participants in Tranche 1 of the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme who have not yet received their advance payments for participation in the scheme. In a statement issued to Northern Sound, Deputy Brendan Smith said he was "delighted" to receive confirmation that the rate of this interim payment will be €4,000 for those in ACRES general and €5,000 for those in the ACRES Co-operation Project.
He continued; "I very much appreciate the importance of this payment to farmers, and Fianna Fáil in Government is fully committed to rewarding farmers for their environmental ambition. I understand that it is the intention of Minister McConalogue to have this interim payment delivered to those farmers affected across ACRES General and Co-operation by the end of this month.
"The ACRES payments will take into account the interim payments already made to the relevant participants and will issue in June for ACRES Tranche 1 participants. In the intervening period, the Department of Agriculture will continue with the payment process as a key priority.”
