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

We want to pay out on GLAS for the last three months of this year - October, November and December - which is what we said we would do and which we are seeking to deliver. We are also seeking to take in as many new applicants under tranche 2 as we can. We have put a figure of 10,000 on that. We will not have 50,000 farmers in GLAS next year, rather we will have about 36,000 in it.

That is always what I said I would do and I have been totally consistent in this regard. When people asked initially about the maximum number of people to come into GLAS, many people were talking about 15,000 or 20,000 farmers. We have taken in 27,000 farmers and are now about to take in another 10,000. Of course, farming organisations have a job to do in lobbying me to try to get as many farmers into GLAS as they can, and I respect that. I will deliver as many as I can, but we have to operate within budgets that are growing year on year. Agriculture will have an increasing budget every year between now and 2020. We have secured that and delivered it in terms of the rural development programme. However, all the farming organisations that have been involved in this discussion know that we cannot do it overnight, so we will build up to it. Next year, we will have 36,000 while the following year we will take in another tranche to bring it up as soon as we can to the full 50,000 and spend the full €250 million on GLAS that is envisaged as soon as that can be afforded.

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