Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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I am very glad to see the Minister of State, Deputy Doyle, in the Chamber. The issue I am raising is about green low-carbon agri-environment scheme, GLAS, payments. The 6,000 or more farmers waiting for their GLAS money are waiting for their 2016 payments, and we are now nearly at the end of 2017. I am given to understand that a lot of the reason for this is to do with nutrient management plans which have not yet been submitted or have been delayed in being submitted. There are a couple of issues in this, and one of them that certainly comes to mind for me is there were huge difficulties over the summer and last spring with the portal and computer system the Department was using for accepting these nutrient management plans. This seems to be one of the main reasons for the delays in getting this done. This brings me back to an issue we have often raised here, which is the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine seems to have some problem with its IT systems and what is happening in this respect.

We also have coming up very soon the issue of the commonage framework plans, which also are supposed to be submitted or people will not get their money. As the Minister of State knows, because he lives in a mountainous part of the world in County Wicklow, a lot of farmers on commonage will have to do up this framework plan and submit it. The plans have to be in by 31 October and yet the portal to submit the plan only opened up on 1 October. We understand there is a bit of a row going on between private planners and Teagasc, as there was in regard to the nutrient management plans, because the private planners have to get access to it through Teagasc. There are a lot of problems there, the reason for which is poor foresight, because they were not sorted out in the beginning and worked through.

I draw the Minister of State's attention to the commonage framework plans. I am delighted the Minister of State is here because he has a greater understanding of this than the Minister. With all due respect to the Minister, Deputy Creed, he is from a part of the world where commonage plans are not as common. As the Minister of State knows, one of the things required for the framework plans is that if, for example, there are ten parties on the commonage they have to come up with a plan, they work together. They may not all have the same planner, but only one planner has to submit the plan, so they have to co-operate to do that. Several parties to the commonage may not be in GLAS at all. There may also be adjoining much of the commonage land big tracts of forestry because the commonage is on a mountain,. Certainly, in my part of the world that is one of the major problems. The forest companies will not fence the mountain, so we end up in a situation where people are in a commonage plan where one of the conditions is they must graze the mountain to a certain level. The people have to put sheep on the mountain to graze it, but the sheep do not stay on the mountain because they go back down through the forestry and away with them. Despite this, the forestry companies will not fence the area concerned.

These practical problems are coming up for farmers, and while the plan may look very well on paper, implementing it in reality will be very difficult and many of the farmers are fearful. They put in these plans and everything looks great, but when it comes down to it, they may not be able to manage it the way it is set out in the plan because much of the mountain is outside of their control.

The issue which I raise regarding the GLAS payments is a reflection of this. If, because of the nutrient management plans, we have this hold-up, what kind of a hold-up will we have in future with the framework plans? The whole GLAS situation is a bit of a mess in this regard.

There are approximately 50,000 farmers in GLAS and there is an average payment of just under €4,000 per farmer. This shows an underspend last year of more than €50 million, because €1,000 by 50,000 farmers is €50 million. What is the possibility of reopening the scheme to new applicants to use up this underspend, which clearly will be there this year again? We find very few farmers reach the €5,000 spoken about in the beginning as the average payment, and it clearly is not. The average payment is under €4,000 per farmer. There is space to open up the scheme to more farmers and allow them in to enhance their income.

Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Kenny for raising this matter, which gives me an opportunity to outline the up to date position regarding the 2016 payments under GLAS. It is important to point out with regard to the Deputy's final point, that GLAS is the most heavily subscribed scheme ever run under a rural development programme in Ireland. The original target of 50,000 participants has been well surpassed such is the popularity of the scheme. GLAS has a maximum annual payment of €5,000 under the general scheme, with provision for payment up to €7,000, known as GLAS+, where the farmer is required to give exceptional environmental commitments in a limited number of cases.

GLAS, like previous agri-environment schemes, provides valuable support to participants who deliver public goods and environmental benefits that enhance Ireland’s agriculture sustainability credentials. The scheme delivers overarching benefits to the rural environment and also addresses the issues of the mitigation of the impacts of climate change, the improvement of water quality and the enhancement of biodiversity.

The scheme supports participants in improving their agricultural productivity and practices in a sustainable manner. Applications under the first two tranches of the GLAS scheme resulted in almost 38,000 farmers being approved into the scheme in its first year of implementation. This represented an unprecedented level of participation in the first year of an agri-environment scheme in Ireland. A further 13,500 participants have been approved under GLAS 3. Last year, 2016, represents the first full year of payments under GLAS. To be very clear, only GLAS tranche 1 and 2 participants are eligible for a payment in respect of 2016.

The scheme is co-funded by the national Exchequer and the European agricultural fund for rural development. As required under EU regulation, two payments issue in respect of each year, with the advance payment being followed at a later stage by the balancing payment. In 2016 and again in 2017, the advance payment represents 85% of the annual payment, with the balancing payment being 15%.

In 2016, advance payments commenced in December and continued to be made on an ongoing basis as cases were cleared. Over 99% of 2016 advance payments have now been issued and, to date this year, we have paid out almost €150 million under the scheme. In the majority of the remaining cases, applicants have been advised on a number of occasions of the steps they must take before the Department can process their payment. In most cases, this relates to outstanding documentation they must submit. As soon as this is received and assuming everything is in order, my Department will move immediately to make the payment. After the advance payment, the remaining 15% is paid out at a later stage, and this is known as the balancing payment. The 2016 balancing payments commenced on schedule during the summer and are also being issued on an ongoing basis. We have been paying out almost €1 million per week in payments since these payments commenced, and this week expect to pay out almost €1.2 million.

The main issue with these payments is the need for advisors to submit a farm nutrient management plan to the dedicated online system. A plan must be submitted on behalf of each GLAS 1 and 2 participant before 2016 balancing payments and any future GLAS payments, including 2017 advance payments, can be issued. Plans have now been submitted on behalf of over 80% of all GLAS 1 and 2 participants. Just over 6,000 plans remain outstanding.

This specific figure of 6,000 is what was raised by the Deputy. These are not delayed payments, as has been suggested. It is simply not possible for my Department to make these payments because the 6,000 applicants have not met the requirements by not submitting their nutrient management plan. Over 30,000 applicants have submitted the plan and, hence, received their balancing payment immediately. We are keenly aware of the need to process these cases and issue the balancing payments without delay. We have regularly communicated the importance of submitting the plans to participants, the farm representative bodies, the advisers and the media generally in order to generate as much awareness as possible.

Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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I understand that and I understand why the problem has arisen. I would like the Minister of State to try to deal with it. The system was to take in the nutrient management plans before March 2017. The deadline was extended until the middle of June. It then had to be extended a second time, into July, because the system was not able to take them. That is what I was told was the reason. The Minister has not dealt with that. He is putting the blame on the farmer again.

Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The advisers.

Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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Or the advisers. There will always be somebody who is a little late. Everybody does not get every wisp of hay home; that is life but farmers have been waiting for their money for a very lengthy period as the Minister of State will acknowledge. What needs to be acknowledged is that there is a problem in the Department in regard to the IT systems it uses. I am not blaming the Minister of State, the Minister or anyone else at present but the problem needs to be acknowledged and a solution needs to be found to deal with it. Every year, some issue or clash arises, or the independent advisers have a row with Teagasc because they do not have access to this or that. It is the same with the commonage framework plans that are due shortly. Could the Minister of State acknowledge the problem and assure the House, farmers and advisers that an effort will be made to deal with the matter.

There is a bit of a hotchpotch within the Department. Many different people are coming in as consultants working on the computer system and there is no overall system working effectively and efficiently and able to deal with what we all acknowledge is a massive volume of payments. Farmers are very grateful for the payments. The system would work very well if we could get it to work better, but there is currently a hold-up. Blaming the advisers or farmers is not really the way forward. The Government needs to acknowledge that there is a problem and that it needs to be fixed.

Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I wish to clarify a couple of points. I attended the Agricultural Consultants Association annual conference and was asked about this matter at the end of it. It was just coming up to the deadlines for area aid applications, in May. Those to whom I spoke said the workload at that time made it very difficult for them to get nutrient management plans in. They said everything was running to deadlines of 31 May, 12 May, 15 May or otherwise. They asked for an extension. This was nothing to do with the Department's system at that time. The deadline has been extended several times. One can see the point on trying to spread the workload. What has happened since the time in question is that the money is ready to be paid to the 6,000 people in respect of nutrient management plans. The button, if it is pressed, will not issue a payment until there is a management plan. It has nothing to do with consultants or the IT system. It is a matter of acknowledging the problems earlier in the year. I hope there will be a far higher percentage dealt with when the advance payments for 2017 are being made, assuming everything is right. The 6,000 need to get the plans in so they can get the balancing payment of 15% and be in a position to receive the advance payment for 2017.

With regard to the commonage management plans, the portal opened only a month ago. The target is 31 October to enable the making of the payments and future payments. Any activity beyond that deadline will cause a delay. Even if there is an extension of the deadline, the payments cannot be made until the commonage management plans are submitted.

It is fair that the Deputy acknowledges that the GLAS is huge, including over 52,000 farmers. The moneys will be fully drawn down over the lifetime of the programme. The moneys may not all be drawn down on the date the programme ends because of the way payments naturally follow. We have done everything possible to communicate with all stakeholders the need to get the nutrrient management plans in so payment can be issued. It is not in the Department's interest to hang on to money any longer than it has to. I can assure the Deputy of that.