Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

My question also asked the Minister to indicate the average projected payment levels but he did not refer to those in his response. Those are important in terms of whether the total spend, as projected, will be met. I have a concern about that, and the figures show that we are on course for GLAS to have a significant underspend between now and the end of the rural development programme in 2020.

The Minister, as well as his predecessor, and his Department have been too slow in getting the scheme up and running. As indicated in my first priority question, the vast majority of farmers who have applied for GLAS have not had a full year's payment yet, despite the fact the CAP programme has been up and running for more than two years at this stage.

My information from a reply to a previous parliamentary question is that the average spend was €4,600. If that were to continue and if the number of participants was to reach 50,000 capacity, there would be at least a €20 million overspend for the remainder of the scheme on top of the underspend on it so far. I want the Minister to clarify the average spend. Will the €1.45 billion committed to by the previous Minister, Deputy Coveney, be spent in full by the end of 2020, and if not, on what will the money be spent?

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