Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 March 2013
158. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he intends increasing the number of places on the agri-environment options scheme 3 to cover all eligible applicants; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14666/13]
View answerDespite the challenging budgetary constraints facing my Department, last year I allocated €20 million annually to fund a new agri-environment scheme and on foot of this I announced the re-opening of the Agri-Environment Options Scheme (AEOS). I decided on a maximum payment of €4,000 per annum for individual applicants to allow for up to 6,500 new participants to be accepted into the scheme.
I have no plans to allocate additional funding to AEOS 3 in order to extend the number of available places in the Scheme.
