Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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90. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the proposed eligibility criteria, as of 7 October 2014, for commonage farmers taking part in GLAS; if this criteria is the same as was announced on 17 September 2014; if the 50% collective agreement is or is not of the eligibility criteria; if commonage farmers will be permitted to apply for inclusion in the scheme as individuals; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39017/14]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Over the course of the consultation process on the new Rural Development Programme, which extended for a year and half, we have adapted and rebalanced our proposals for commonages quite significantly in the light of the various concerns highlighted by farmers and their representatives. The original requirement was for 80% participation at commonage level, but this was subsequently reduced to 50%, with a further stipulation that this need only be calculated on the basis of the number of active shareholders on the commonage, i.e. those actually grazing the land. To give an example, if there are 20 shareholders on a commonage, and 15 are claiming shares under the Single Payment Scheme, but only 10 of those are actively grazing the land at present, the 50% requirement to trigger priority access to GLAS is just 5 farmers. Both steps have significantly reduced the challenge of securing the required level of agreement.

That said, 50% participation remains the target and in fact I hope and believe that a significantly higher percentage will ultimately join the new scheme. However, it is important to note that farmers are free to signal their interest individually to their own adviser, or to the co-ordinating adviser for the commonage, without a requirement to first come together as a group. Once sufficient numbers have indicated their interest, the plan for the commonage can be drawn up using the online systems and databases that are currently being built by my Department. That plan must be submitted by a single adviser for the whole commonage, and there can only be one plan for each commonage.

Where it proves impossible to reach the required 50%, I have already indicated that the farmers concerned – or indeed an individual farmer, should the situation arise – may bring the case before the Commonage Implementation Committee for consideration and recommendation. I have already made it clear that no farmer will be locked-out of GLAS if, through no fault of his or her own, it has proved impossible to reach the required 50% on the commonage concerned. In addition, I have also clarified that on small commonages, i.e. those of 10 hectares or less, the 50% rule does not apply at all, and in those instances farmers are free to join GLAS on an individual basis, in the same way as they would on their privately owned land.

Over the last few weeks, I arranged for a series of public meetings to be held at key locations nationwide to give hill farmers an opportunity to talk to officials from my Department for themselves and raise the issues that continue to give them concern. I am glad to say these meetings were well attended and I believe we have brought a good deal of clarity to the situation and the level of interest, in what is essentially a voluntary scheme, is very encouraging.