Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 1 July 2015
120. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine based on applications under the green low-carbon agri-environment scheme examined to date, the number of applicants who will be approved for payments of up to €1,000, from €1,000 to €2,000 and so on, in intervals of €1,000 up to €7,000, by county; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26569/15]
View answerAlmost 27,000 GLAS applications submitted will now be assessed and approved in line with the priority environmental assets and pre-determined selection criteria. All applicants will be notified in writing of the outcome of their application and I anticipate contracts will commence in October and run until the end of 2020. Based on the total value of applications received, I expect that the average payment will be in the order of €5,000.
It is not possible at this early stage to provide the detailed information sought by the Deputy and this level of detail will only be available following the completion of all checks and the selection of successful applicants for approval into the scheme. However, the qualifying score built into the system for evaluating Tier 3 applicants, i.e. those without Priority Environmental Assets, is based on a reasonable expectation of what can be achieved at holding level, equivalent for example to 10 hectares of low input permanent pasture, 15 Bat Boxes and 6 Bird Boxes. This would generate the applicant a return of €3,365, and I would therefore expect most applications to achieve or exceed this level of return.
