Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In February 2015, when the Minister's predecessor, the current Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, Deputy Simon Coveney, first announced the green low-carbon agri-environment scheme, he indicated that €1.45 billion would be allocated specifically to it until the current Common Agriculture Policy programme expires at the end of 2020. As the Minister pointed out, the maximum standard GLAS payment will be €5,000. However, the average payment made thus far is €4,600 and total payments last year amounted to only €11 million. There are 38,000 farmers in the scheme, much fewer than the projected total of 50,000. The scheme will reopen at the end of 2016. If the full complement of 50,000 participants is reached by January 2017, farmers starting the scheme at the beginning of next year will only complete four years in GLAS under the current rural development programme because that programme expires at the end of 2020. As such, the maximum amount that could be spent by the end of 2020 is slightly more than €1 billion, giving a shortfall of €376 million on the projected expenditure of €1.45 billion, on which the previous Minister gave a commitment. I ask the Minister to ensure €1.45 billion is spent by the end of 2020 when the current rural development programme will expire. Farming incomes are in crisis. This money cannot be kicked out to the 2020s because it would result in farm incomes being hit this year and next year.

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