Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will leave that to the planners. I do not want to exactly prescribe a GLAS commonage plan but these are the kinds of things that could be included.

In order for farmers to draw down their payment of up to €5,000 under the terms of GLAS - based on €120 per hectare - or more than €5,000 under the GLAS plus scheme, at least half of the active farmers on that commonage will have to buy into it. Otherwise the scheme would not have any credibility in the eyes of the European Commission in the context of collective farming. We are not asking for a collective agreement. We are not even saying that every farmer has to use the same planner. All we are saying is that there must be a plan in place. The implementation group will help to ensure that such a plan is put in place and farmers can then sign up to it either through their own planner or by working with the planner who has put the plan in place. They must then farm in a way that is consistent with the commonage plan. If there is a problem with numbers the implementation group can help by speaking to other farmers who, for whatever reason, may not want to be part of it.

See this speech in context