Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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370. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of applications under the green low-carbon agri-environment scheme received to date by his Department; his plans on extending the deadline for closing the scheme from 30 April 2015; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11780/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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At close of business on Friday 20^thMarch 2015 a total of 6,684 applications were created on the Department's GLAS online application system.

In light of the European Commission's recent announcement that Member States may extend the closing date for direct payment applications beyond the 15 ^thMay and up to 15^thJune I am now considering whether to extend the closing date for GLAS applications.

In deciding whether to extend the date and for how long, I will take account of the feedback from farmers and advisors, the need for the efficient management of the different Departmental on-line systems and the effect, if any, on commencement dates in GLAS.