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

It is important to clarify that regardless of how many shareholders are in the commonage, if a commonage area is to qualify for payments under the GLAS scheme, there must be an expectation, indeed a reality, that certain actions will be taken on that land that go beyond what is required under the basic payments scheme. Under the regulations there must be some added value environmentally from the GLAS scheme. That is the point of the scheme.

We are trying to facilitate a situation whereby half of the active farmers in a commonage area, or half of the land in a commonage area that is being farmed by the farmers, would buy into a commonage GLAS plan for the commonage. They can work through their individual planners if they wish, but they must be working towards one agreed plan. We can then say to the Commission that these are the actions we are paying for and this is what will be done in this commonage to draw down the payments of €5,000 or €7,000 per farmer or shareholder in the commonage. That is the conversation we are having. We cannot simply do away with all of the requirements. There must be a commitment by a portion of the shareholders in the commonage area to ensure that there is added environmental value in that commonage area. From the Commission's point of view, GLAS is not an income support but an investment in an environmental scheme, which is why one must qualify for it.

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