Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister did not provide the figure I sought. This is not the first time he failed to provide a figure. Last week, only a number of hours after the online facility for submitting applications had opened, he was able to indicate how many had availed of this facility. How many farmers have submitted completed applications? Will the Minister confirm that only approximately 20% of the 14,800 commonage farmers have gone as far as the action stage of the application process? Will he accept that such a figure equates to a low take-up of the scheme? He stated his intention was to attract 30,000 applicants to GLAS this year. He now hopes 25,000 completed applications will be received under the scheme this year, yet he still intends to spend the full allocation of €20 million for the scheme. Will he explain this discrepancy?

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