GLAS Data

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 January 2018

Tuesday, 23 January 2018

Ceisteanna (442)

Lisa Chambers

Ceist:

442. Deputy Lisa Chambers asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of GLAS applications that were scheduled for payment in 2017 that have not issued; the number of these applications which were received from persons in County Mayo; the average time for processing such applications; the general issues that cause applications to be delayed and-or extend beyond this time in County Mayo and nationally, respectively, in tabular form; the average length of time that the delays add to such applications; when outstanding GLAS payments in County Mayo will be made; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3012/18]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine

GLAS payments cannot issue until all regulatory requirements are met. 2017 advance payments commenced on schedule in November 2017.

Each GLAS payment claim must be put through a suite of checks for each action and where any individual check fails the issues must be investigated and resolved before being cleared for payment. Applications are not processed on a geographic basis and payments are issuing weekly as cases are cleared for payment. In addition to the checks outlined above, in approximately 3,000 of the outstanding cases, applicants remain ineligible for payment until they complete the steps they must take before the Department can process their payment. The general issues preventing payments taking place include the non-submission of nutrient management plans, commonage management plans, low-emission slurry spreading forms, rare breeds forms and 2017 BPS application issues that remain to be resolved.

The table below sets out the number of 2017 scheme year advance payments made to date both in Co Mayo and nationally.

County	Cases	Advance paid	Advance not paid
Mayo	5,537	4,303	1,234
TOTAL	49,734	41,154	8,580

Payruns will continue on a weekly basis and all applicants who have passed validations will continue to have payments processed.