889. Deputy Eamon Scanlon asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to address the exclusion of young farmers from the traditional farm buildings grant scheme due to the requirement to be in ACRES or the organic farming scheme (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38750/26]

The Traditional Farm Building (TFB) Grant Scheme 2026 is open to all farmers currently participating in the Organic Farming Schemes or ACRES.

For the Organic Farming Scheme (OFS) active farmers who are aged eighteen years or over, who wish to farm organically are eligible to apply. Young farmers are prioritised and receive extra marks within the scheme's ranking and selection criteria. OFS has opened every year for new entrants since 2021 with the most recent tranche open for applications from 19th November 2025 until 12th December 2025.

ACRES is an Agri-environment climate measure provided under Ireland’s CAP Strategic Plan 2023 – 2027 and must comply with the CSP Regulation (EU) 2021/2115. Article 70(6) of that regulation provides that environmental, climate-related and other management commitments shall be undertaken for a period of five to seven years. It is not therefore possible to re-open ACRES at this time because there is insufficient time left within current CAP period for a new intake to meet the minimum requirement of five years.

It is important to highlight that the Traditional Farm Buildings grant scheme (TBF) which is a collaboration between my Department and the Heritage Council (HC), has over the 30 years it has been in place supported many farmers to successfully transform over 1,000 vulnerable farm buildings into functional agricultural assets.