Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 27 October 2016
29. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when 2015 GLAS payments will issue to persons (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32201/16]
Amharc ar fhreagraSome 25,800 farmers are actively participating in Tranche 1 of GLAS. Of these, some 1,500 have a contract commencement date of 1 January 2016 and a further 2,000 with a contract commencement date of 1 October 2015 did not select any actions qualifying for a 2015 part year payment leaving 22,300 participants entitled to a part year payment.
Under the general scheme the maximum part year payment is €1,250 and the average payment to date for 2015 is €640. To date 18,800 applicants have received their full 2015 payment, a further 2,700 have received up to 85% of their part year payment while some 800 applications are yet to receive any part of their 2015 payment due.
Under the EU Regulations governing the Scheme and other area-based payment schemes, a comprehensive administrative check, including cross-checks with the Land Parcel Identification System, have to be completed before any payment can issue.
There are a number of different reasons for outstanding 2015 payments such as applications not meeting all regulatory checks due to errors identified during the Basic Payment Scheme cross checks, inspection cases that are currently being finalised, changes in Land Parcel Identification System numbers and changes in areas from those approved.
Officials in my Department are working on all outstanding applications on a case by case basis with the intention of processing payments which meet all required regulatory requirements as soon as possible.
My Department recognises that some payments for 2015 have yet to be completed but it must also be recognised that in the first year of the GLAS Scheme over 95% of GLAS farmers due a 2015 payment have received up to 85% of this payment.
This has represented a significant commitment in terms of resources, including IT development resources, within the Department and when viewed in the context of the Department also rolling out the new Basic Payment Scheme and a number of other schemes as part of the new Rural Development Programme such as TAMS II, Beef Genomics, Knowledge Transfer Schemes, it represents a significant amount of work.
As I have indicated, my Department continues to process the remaining 2015 part year payments as well developing the systems to support the third tranche of GLAS and systems to support 2016 GLAS payments for GLAS 1 and GLAS 2, which are the first full year payments under the Scheme. These 2016 payments will begin issuing before the end of the year for applications which pass all the required regulatory checks.
