Brendan Smith
Ceist:961. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when the GLAS scheme will reopen; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20453/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraThursday, 30 July 2020
Ceisteanna (961)
Freagraí scríofa
There are no plans to reopen the current GLAS scheme as it is fully subscribed and all funding is committed. This is also the case for our Rural Development Programme as a whole and all schemes therein are fully subscribed and the entire €4 bn budget is committed.
The Programme for Government has set out clearly our strategy for agri-environment policy including our ambition to allocate €1.5bn to a flagship environmental scheme under the next CAP. I have been very clear that the strong environmental ambition for the sector must be matched by a suitable CAP budget. This new scheme will be included in Ireland’s CAP Strategic Plan and we aim to pilot some elements of this in the transitional phase between the CAP programming periods as well as adopting the best elements of our existing agri-environment schemes.
I am particularly impressed, for example, with some of the early lessons from the locally-led schemes currently run by my Department and I know GLAS has delivered some really meaningful environmental results. It is important therefore that we reflect on what has worked and what hasn’t worked in designing new measures. There are a number of variables still undecided which mean it is difficult to be definitive at this stage about the precise details of future schemes. These include agreement on the legislative framework, both transitional and next CAP.
We are pressing hard for the earliest possible adoption of the EU regulations to facilitate the operation of schemes during the transitional period as the first priority. This is to provide some certainty until such time as CAP regulations and associated funding arrangements are agreed. As soon as we have this legal certainty, we will provide clarity and engage with all the relevant stakeholders on next steps.
This is priority work for me and my Department over the coming months. I attended my first meeting of our CAP consultative committee with the stakeholders recently and I see that forum as being key to the planning for our future policy on these issues.