Skip to main content
Normal View

GLAS Administration

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 October 2019

Tuesday, 15 October 2019

Questions (74)

Bobby Aylward

Question:

74. Deputy Bobby Aylward asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his plans to reopen the GLAS scheme for new applications; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41963/19]

View answer

Written answers

The Green Low Carbon Agri-Environment Scheme (GLAS) is a measure funded by the Rural Development Programme (2014-2020). GLAS promotes practices to assist the preservation of habitats and species as well as addressing the issues of climate change mitigation and water quality, in support of sustainable Irish agriculture.

Since the launch of GLAS tranche 1 in 2015, the Scheme has been extremely successful in terms of uptake with in excess of 50,000 farmers approved into the GLAS scheme over the first three tranches exceeding the participation target almost two years ahead of schedule. The GLAS scheme is now fully subscribed and the overall RDP budget is on track to be fully spent. There are currently no plans to re-open the scheme.

As regards the proposals for new regulations for the CAP 2021-27 which were launched in June 2018 by Commissioner Hogan, the proposals, as drafted, involve significant changes, including in relation to governance, the distribution of direct payments among farmers and the increasing environmental conditionality attaching to such payments.

Decisions on any future agri-environment schemes, will be informed by the final outcome of CAP negotiations and the available budget. Negotiations on the draft proposals are continuing at EU level. While significant progress has been made to date, decisions on key issues have yet to be agreed at EU level. In the meantime, I would encourage all stakeholders to engage with the ongoing national CAP consultation process and let their views be known on future agri-environment policy.

Top
Share