Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 January 2018
1197. Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he is reopening the Green, Low-Carbon, Agri-Environment Scheme, GLAS, in early 2018 in view of the underspend in the overall GLAS budget; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1136/18]
View answerThe target set out in the Rural Development Programme 2014 - 2020 to approve 50,000 GLAS participants before the end of 2018 has already been achieved. The fact that the RDP target has been achieved almost two years ahead of schedule is a significant achievement on the part of both farmers and my Department and is evidence of the commitment of Irish farmers to the sustainable growth of the Irish agri-food sector into the future.
There are no plans to re-open the scheme. My focus now is on ensuring that payments to these participants are processed and my Department is working hard to continue making these 2017 advance payments in the coming weeks. The GLAS scheme is one of a suite of many RDP schemes and the re-opening of any scheme can only be considered within the overall RDP budget which is currently fully committed.
I fully anticipate that based on current up-take and projections, the entire budget allocation of some €4 billion for the Rural Development Programme will be spent and that the entire €2.19 billion of EU co-funding will be drawn down.
