Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 8 June 2016
65. Deputy Bobby Aylward asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the expenditure on rural development programmes under the agri-environment options scheme in 2015; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14472/16]
View answerThe total expenditure on agri-environment schemes under the Rural Development Programme (RDP) in 2015 was €131.73 million. This includes the Rural Environmental Protection Scheme (REPS4), the Agri-Environment Options Scheme (AEOS1, AEOS2 and AEOS3), Organic Farming Scheme (OFS) and the Green Low Carbon Agri-Environment Scheme (GLAS). The corresponding figure for spending on agri-environment schemes is expected to be €203.2 million for 2016. This is an increase of more than €71 million. This is mainly due to the continued roll-out of GLAS.
Expenditure under the REPS4 in 2015 amounted to a total of €32.25 million.
Expenditure under the AEOS in 2015 amounted to a total of €79.80 million.
Expenditure under the Organic Farming Scheme (OFS) in 2015 amounted to a total of €8.16 million.
In relation to GLAS, Tranche 1 applications with a start-date of 1 October 2015 and which have GLAS actions which are payable in 2015 were eligible for a 2015 part-year payment (covering the three month period 1 October-31 December 2015). Total expenditure on GLAS in 2015 amounted to €11.52 million. Balancing payments for GLAS 2015 will be made later this year.
