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

Will the Minister confirm that I am right in understanding that the basic payment scheme will continue in 2021 and 2022 more or less as it is until the new CAP comes in, the areas of natural constraint scheme will continue as is for those two years also, GLAS will continue for another year and other schemes, such as the sheep welfare scheme and the beef data genomics scheme will see out their full course?

Will the Minister confirm whether we have more detail on the proposed new environmental scheme for the transitional period he mentioned, which will be done on a pilot basis? How widespread will it be? How available will it be to people who have left the agri-environment options scheme and did not get into GLAS or who have never been on a scheme, such as young farmers? Will the Minister flesh out what he now knows about the alternative environmental scheme to GLAS for those who are not in it at present? It is a matter of concern because people depend on these environmental payments to put bread on the table. Will he confirm the current schemes and I will come back in on the longer period schemes.

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