Rural Development Council Report November 2025

Budget 2026

• DAFM allocation €2.302bn (+€170m or 9% YoY)

Expenditure – Summary items

Taxation – Summary items

•  €50m support for Tillage Sector •  +€85m TB Programme (€157m for new TB Plan)•  €131m Livestock supports retained•  +€20m ACRES [Core & NPI]•  +€27m TAMS•  €58.6m Organics (re-open Tillage farms)•  €8.25m KT Programme•  €93m Forestry (+€2m)•  €3m Farm Safety, Health & Wellbeing (+€500k)•  €8.8m Horticulture (was €8.5m)•  €157.7m Fishing & Seafood (€177m last year)•  Same ANC allocation•  MSS; Red Clover; Soil Sampling – TBC •  Nothing extra for Forgotten Farmers

•  Existing reliefs retained-  ACA Slurry Storage to 31 Dec 2029-  ACA Energy Efficient Equipment to 31 Dec 2030-  Farm Restructuring Relief (CGT) to 31 Dec 2029 (including commercial forestry and non-commercial woodland/forestry)-  Farm Consolidation Relief to 31 Dec 2029-  YTF Stamp Duty Relief to 31 Dec 2029-  Agricultural Relief – unchanged•  RZLT – derogation for 2026 secured •  Derelict Property Tax (new). Min 7%. Rev. Comm. Pre LA registers 2027•  VAT Flat rate Refund 5.1% to 4.5% Jan 1st   •  Min Wage +65c to €14.15/hr (2% USC ceiling +€1,318)•  Carbon Tax: +€7.50/tonne to €63.50 (+2.4cpl)•  Core weekly welfare payments +€10•  No change income tax bands

REDESIGN OF AGFOOD SYSTEM

• Through Farmers Charter of Rights & DAFM MyAgFood.ie working group, IFA continue to raise issues experienced by farmers with new Agfood portal (i.e. 2-factor authentication; system timing out/not allowing login; Logging in for companies). Relevant DAFM staff to update at next Charter meeting.

CAP & CAP SIMPLIFICATION

• IFA supported amendments re GAEC-7 (2-crop rule removed entirely; farms less than 50ha deemed compliance 3-crop rule) and GAEC-2 (designated sites automatic compliant GAEC1-7 where Management Plan in place) were passed by EU Parliament on Oct 8^th in Strasbourg. Letters issued to Minister Martin Heydon & Irish MEPs seeking their support & lobbying efforts in progressing. First trialogue meeting Oct 17^th ended prematurely after Danish Ambassador took position that they hadn’t mandate to discuss some of the proposals tabled, which in his view went beyond Simplification. 
• IE allocated €8.16bn (from €11.4bn IE General Allocation) from proposed €294bn ring-fenced CAP Income Support allocation under Commission MFF proposals (2028-2034) 
• IE were not among signatures of joint statement tabled at the Special Committee on Agriculture (SCA) on October 6th, demanding that the CAP provisions across the legislative texts be transferred into the same legal act to ensure the commonality of rules. Seeking clarification from DAFM.   

ACRES

• A total of over €517.2m has been paid to date to ACRES participants: 

	Amount Paid	% participants paid
2023	€249.5m	99.6%
2024 Advance	€228.2m	98.9%
2024 Balance	€39.4m	97.6%

• Processing of payments continues on a weekly basis across all scheme years and tranches.
• Contract and ownership / partnership issues; Issues with scorecards (incorrect score, scorecards not submitted); as well as non-alignment of ACRES data with BISS information remain the main reasons for non-payment to date. Corrective payments are expected March/April 2026.
• Third application window for NPI’s closed 17^th October
• Payment claims system for NPIs approved Dec 2024 & April 2025 now open.
• Annual Declaration for the Low Emission Slurry Spreading (LESS) action under ACRES in respect of 2025 must be completed online by 31st October 2025.
• Annual Declaration for the Conservation of Rare Breeds action, under ACRES, must be completed for 2024 on the ACRES Rare Breeds online portal on AgFood by 15th November 2025. 
• ACRES Tranche 1 participants may now avail of a voluntary ACRES training course (€150) by contacting an approved ACRES Trainer, Courses cease end-December. 
• Advance payments for 2025 due to commence by end of November.

Scheme	Target payment dates
ANC	85% Adv 18/09; Bal early Dec
BISS / CRISS	70% Adv 16/10; Bal early Dec
Eco-scheme	70% Adv 23 Oct; Balance early Dec
ACRES-Gen	85% Adv end Nov; Balance end May
ACRES-CP	85% Adv end Nov; Balance end May
SIS	85% Adv end Nov; Balance May
Organics	85% Adv early Dec; Balance post Inspections
CIS – YF	100% in early Dec
SCEP	From mid-Dec
Protein Aid	100% from mid-Dec
SIM	100% from mid-Dec
Dairy Beef	Late March

Direct Payments

• 70% advance BISS / CRISS payments, with a value of €510m to over 110,000 farmers, commenced October 16th, with €195m Eco-scheme payments commencing October 22^nd to 110,000 farmers.

GAEC-2 Appeals system open

• Appeals process for GAEC 2 parcels is now available. There will be no closing date in relation to GAEC 2 appeals. To date, no appeal request re GAEC 2 have been received by DAFM. 

TAMS

• Following calls from IFA, a revision of the TAMS reference costs was completed, with the new costings coming into effect for Tranche 10 onwards. 
• TAMS Tranche 10 opened 10^th September and will close 5th December. Tranche 9 closed on 6th September, with over 6,100 applications received.
• Minister Heydon announced 100% approval for eligible applications under Tranches 6,7,8. Ranking & Selection may apply for Tranche 9 on.
• 37,305 approvals have issued under TAMS 3, with 13,856 applications submitting payment claims. 
• To date, €106m has been paid out to c.12,000 applicants (c.€2m/week). 
• For those ready to start projects but are awaiting final approval letter, DAFM can prioritise applications at local level. Will be assessed on case-by-case basis.
• Farmers encouraged to engage promptly with DAFM re application queries/notifications. Extension to return deadline possible, on case-by-case basis, on request.

Activity since last National Council

• Meeting of Rural Development Committee in the Irish Farm Centre
• Meeting of Rural Development Management Committee online to discuss Budget 2026 Proposals & CAP Proposals 
• Discussed CAP proposals with Gijs Schilthuis, DG AGRI Director
• Attended Farmers Charter of Rights Monitoring Committee meeting in Portlaoise
• Attended MyAgfood.ie redevelopment working group
• Met Minister Heydon, Minister Chambers and Minister Donohoe re IFA’s Pre-Budget Submission 2026
• Attended IFA Lobbying of Oireachtas Members (+ various local lobbying efforts) 
• Met DAFM re ongoing issues with ACRES 
• Submission re Observations on draft CAP/MFF Proposals
• Submission re Local Government Taskforce
• Attended monthly POCC meeting online
• Participated in COPA CAP Working groups and Civil Dialogue Group meetings online
• Contributed key priorities of Committee to IFA’s Pre-Budget Submission 2026
• Updated a number of County Executives on the Committees activity including Wexford, Kildare, and North Tipperary. 
• Attended CAP Consultative Committee 
• Attended National Ploughing Championships
• Attended an AKIS Meeting in Teagasc Grange 
• Met with the Director & Deputy Director of the Agriculture Appeals Office 

Any EU/COPA Updates 

IFA continues to participate on a number of COPA groups, relating to CAP, Direct Payments and Rural Development matters. Following the publication of CAP 2028-2032 proposals by the EU Commission on 16th July, IFA has engaged with the COPA Working Party on numerous occasions, providing initial feedback and observations. More recently, IFA engaged with Gijs Schilthuis, DG AGRI Director on the matter, seeking clarity around proposals outlined. 

Upcoming issues

• COPA WP on Future CAP online on the 7^th and 18^th November 
• CAP Stakeholder Meeting on 24^th November 
• The Rural Development Committee will meet on 26^th November in the Farm Centre
• The next Farmers Charter of Rights Monitoring Committee meeting will take place on 11^th December