A Galway TD has expressed concern the ACRES scheme as designed is not delivering the expected support for farmers.
Independent Deputy Sean Canney says he is being contacted by farmers whose applications are now being checked by the Department of Agriculture scientists and the marking is coming in very low resulting in very poor outcome.
The value of grants being approved is very low and is nowhere near the average grant of €5,000.00 which was indicated by the Department when the scheme was launched.
Deputy Canney says this is very worrying for farmers who are relying on this scheme as part of their yearly cash flow.
It is also a concern he says that the scoring by Department officials is not transparent and there is no visibility on the marking system.
Deputy Canney has been giving more details to Midwest Radio’s Michael D. McAndrew....
