Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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1. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the progress made to date in rolling out the green low-carbon agri-environment scheme; the changes to the second tranche of the scheme; the reason for these changes; when farmers will be informed of the decision on their applications for the current tranche; the expected expenditure on the scheme in 2015 and in 2016; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34253/15]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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When the Minister announced the green low-carbon agri-environment scheme, GLAS, he said it was targeted, between 2014 and 2020, on reaching 50,000 farmers at an average payment of €5,000, and when he launched the first tranche of the scheme, he said it would reach 30,000 farmers at a payment €5,000. He mentioned repeatedly the figure of €5,000. It appears as if there could be a 25% shortfall in the expenditure on the first tranche of the scheme. The Minister announced a second tranche of the scheme but he has cut that back severely. Is he satisfied he will achieve his target of reaching 50,000 farmers at an average payment of €5,000? I presume he will increase the number to 60,000 if the average payment is less than that figure. Will he advise why there are these cutbacks so early in the scheme which will hurt farmers?

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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First, there are no cutbacks early in the scheme. Second, we always said the maximum payment for GLAS was €5,000, or €7,000 for GLAS+. We also said that we thought the average payment would be very close to the maximum payment of €5,000 because the majority of farmers would be able to draw down the full amount. Let us be accurate about what was said rather than trying to change things.

The first tranche of GLAS has proved to be hugely successful, attracting nearly 27,000 applicants in all. Applications were received from every single county and virtually every action was selected at some stage. On the basis of the interest shown to date, I have no doubt that GLAS will succeed in attracting the 50,000 applications projected over the lifetime of the scheme. We have a projected figure of about €250 million of expenditure per year when the full 50,000 applicants are in the scheme, but we always said this would have to happen on a phased basis. Farming organisations bought into that at the time. We have 27,000 applications now. We will open applications for tranche two next week, which will take into another 10,000. Therefore, we will have roughly 36,000 farmers in GLAS by next year, with the second tranche starting from 1 January. We will then progress after that to move up to the full 50,000 applicants when we can afford to do it. Nobody was suggesting or expecting that we would have the full 50,000 applicants in the scheme in the first year. That would be totally unrealistic.

I expect that the first approvals for GLAS will issue next week or very shortly thereafter. On the basis of the expected intake, expenditure this year on GLAS will be €20 million. Preparations for the discussions on 2016 Estimate for next year are under way and we will hear much more about that next week.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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Thank you, Minister.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I will come back to this later.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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Will the Minister confirm that in respect of tranche 1, farmers will get paid from 1 October this year? Will he further confirm that those payments will issue by Christmas-----

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Today is 7 October. The Deputy asked if they will be paid by 1 October.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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Will the contract date be 1 October or will it be the date they are notified by the Minister's Department that they have been accepted into the scheme?

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Okay.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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There seem to be confusing messages on that. Will those farmers be paid by Christmas? The Minister seems to be indicating they will. Where there are prime work plans and where commonages are not yet prepared and may not be prepared for some considerable time, will those farmers get paid with effect from 1 October this year and will they get paid by Christmas this year?

The IFA has sought funding of €250 million next year for 50,000 GLAS and agri-environment options scheme, AEOS, participants in 2016. Will the Minister confirm whether €250 million will be provided for GLAS and AEOS next year?

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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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.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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What the IFA sought, and what I asked the Minister, was whether, between AEOS and GLAS, because there will be farmers left in AEOS next year-----

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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We will sort it out, yes.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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-----the Minister will have 50,000 farmers and there will be a total gross expenditure of €250 million. As the Minister knows, the later people join GLAS, the bigger the proportion of the payment that will not fall under this rural development programme. It will fall into the next RDP, but the commitment in the RDP is for €1.25 billion. In fact, it is €1.4 billion for environmental schemes in total but €1.25 billion for GLAS within this RDP. I understand that part of that GLAS payment is rural environment protection scheme and AEOS spillover from the previous RDP. The first question, which is quite simple, is whether we will spend €250 million between REPS and AEOS. The second question is whether contracts will be backdated to 1 October to enable this payment to be made, as the Minister said, for October, November and December. Third, will the Minister pay for commonage measures even where those commonage plans have not been completed by the end of the year or may only be completed through three or four weeks? It is a very slow process walking all these commonages and preparing reports.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I call on the Minister to conclude.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I am delivering what I said I would deliver, which is to increase incrementally and as quickly as we can the numbers coming into GLAS to get expenditure up to the maximum we have committed to under the scheme. We are getting there faster than I think most people predicted, but it cannot happen overnight and everybody understands that.

There is a particular challenge with putting commonage GLAS in place, something the Deputy and I have spoken about many times. That is why we are showing significant flexibility in giving time to get full sign-off on those GLAS plans. There will be plenty of time to get that finished.

In the meantime, farmers will be paid as long as they have committed to adherence to that plan, even before it is fully finalised and signed off. The commitment they are making in commonage areas will ensure they get early receipt of their GLAS payment, which is about as flexible as we could possibly be. A huge number of commonage farmers are now part of the GLAS commonage project. It has been very successful as anyone would have to accept. When one looks at what is being committed to now in terms of some of the headline outcomes from GLAS, they are hugely successful. They include hectarage covered as well as commitments to hedgerows, native trees, orchards and stone walling. Some 90,000 bird boxes and 80,000 bat boxes are to be erected in addition to protecting 3,000 archaeological monuments and planting 8,000 hectares of wild bird cover. GLAS is about delivering sustainable outcomes across farmland in rural Ireland and paying farmers properly to do that. We will have 50,000 farmers as part of that scheme within the next few years. There will be a cross-section across all farming activities, but in particular there will be a very strong cohort of commonage farmers.