Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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102. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when the terms and conditions of the new green low-carbon agri-environment scheme will be available; when the scheme will be open to applications; the way entry to the scheme will be decided; and if limitations will be placed on access. [6330/14]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I announced details of the new GLAS (Green Low-carbon Agri-environment Scheme) and GLAS+ Scheme on the 14th of January 2014 as part of a suite of proposed measures under the new Rural Development Programme. The GLAS Scheme will provide significant funding to farmers who undertake environmental actions in line with national and EU environmental objectives. It will contribute to the overall public good and will build on the success of previous agri-environment schemes.

The entire Rural Development Programme must be submitted to the European Commission for approval. In advance of this my Department must undertake a public consultation, an ex ante evaluation, a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats), a needs assessment, a strategic environmental assessment (SEA) and an appropriate assessment (AA), as part of the development of the Programme. An independent evaluator has been contracted to prepare the ex ante evaluation report, SEA and AA and to advise on the SWOT analysis. An initial round of consultation with stakeholders took place in 2013 and written submissions were received. On the basis of these, and taking account of the requirements of the Council Regulation, an outline of the GLAS Scheme was developed and published in the Rural Development Programme 2014 – 2020 Draft Consultation Programme on 14th January, 2014.

A further round of stakeholder consultation is now under way and once that is complete, and taking account of any written submissions received by the due date of the 19th February, final decisions will be made on the content of the GLAS Scheme. At that stage formal proposals will be submitted to the European Commission for consideration and approval. This work is receiving the highest priority within my Department and it is my intention to submit the Programme for approval at the earliest possible date in order to facilitate roll out of the new GLAS Scheme.

As regards details of the way entry to the Scheme will be decided, the current outline proposal, as detailed in the Draft Consultation Programme, gives priority access to certain actions which address specific environmental issues. These priorities are targeted towards actions which mitigate climate change, enhance biodiversity and address water quality. The Scheme will be governed by selection criteria, as is required under all EU funded schemes. Once the Scheme is approved by the European Commission, all GLAS documentation, including the Terms and Conditions, application procedure and selection criteria will be published. I expect that contracts under the GLAS scheme will commence in 2015.