Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he intends increasing the number of places on the agri-environment option scheme 3 scheme to cover all eligible applicants; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14666/13]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Despite the challenging budgetary constraints facing my Department, last year I allocated €20 million annually to fund a new agri-environment scheme and on foot of this I announced the re-opening of the Agri-Environment Options Scheme (AEOS). I decided on a maximum payment of €4,000 per annum for individual applicants to allow for up to 6,500 new participants to be accepted into the scheme.

I have no plans to allocate additional funding to AEOS 3 in order to extend the number of available places in the Scheme.