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

What farmers want is to have a new scheme open as soon as we can open it, and that is what we will try to deliver. Whether it requires a letter of comfort to achieve it or not, farmers are not interested in that type of detail. They want a date from me for when they can apply to the scheme and put their plans in place so we can assess them, make decisions as to who is in and lock people into the scheme for a five-year period.

I have consistently said that we would not have the scheme up and running until September next year at the earliest. This is in a context where we are looking to accept 30,000 farmers into it. If we can get the scheme open in February, we will do everything we can to deliver an application process that allows farmers to apply on time and planners to put plans in place on time, which should not, by the way, be too complicated. Then we can look at fast-tracking the assessment of those applications with a view to staying as close as possible to the September target. We have budgeted some €20 million for a three-month payment under GLAS for next year. I am determined to get some payments out next year under the scheme but, most importantly, I want to get 30,000 farmers into the scheme for the next five years and get it up and running as soon as we can.

We are having difficulty with the Commission regarding the genomics scheme, but that does not mean we will not get agreement on it. We continue to have intense discussions with the Commission explaining what the proposal is all about. It takes a while to get one's head around what we are trying to do here. It is a climate change, emissions-based initiative as well as a genomics initiative. We are hopeful of getting it through on that basis, but it is taking time. We are making great progress with the Commission on GLAS, by the way.

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