Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 5 March 2015
121. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his plans to reserve places for commonage farmers in round two and three of the green low-carbon agri-environment scheme, in view of the difficulty that will be faced by commonage farmers in making applications by the due date of 15 May 2015; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9729/15]
View answerFollowing long and complex negotiations with the European Commission, I was very pleased to open GLAS for applications from Monday 23 February 2015. However, despite opening the scheme at the earliest possible opportunity, I fully appreciate that the timescale is tight for those proposing to submit applications, and particularly for commonage farmers.
The first Tranche for applications for GLAS will close on 30 April 2015 and to assist with the submission of applications by commonage farmers, I recently announced that all such applications can now be made on an individual basis through my Department’s dedicated online system. Commonage farmers will simply be required to submit a statement of intent to join a Commonage Management Plan, but the Plan itself need not be submitted by the closing date of 30 April. Instead, I have extended the date for submission of completed Plans to 3 July, 2015. I expect that this will give advisors ample time to walk and assess commonages during May and June, and to discuss with shareholders the requirements of the plan, in terms of individual stocking rates and activities to be undertaken.
I also anticipate from the interest shown to date, and given the number of advisors who have taken part in specific GLAS Commonage Training, that there will be very good uptake of the Commonage measure in Tranche 1.
