Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick, Fine Gael)
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221. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when the submit facility will be activated on the green low-carbon agri-environment scheme online system; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17715/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Following successful negotiations with the European Commission, I opened the GLAS online application system on 23 February, 2015 for the preparation of applications, with the intention of activating the submit-facility once formal approval of the Rural Development Programme as a whole was notified. This has now been received, in the form of a ‘letter of comfort’ from the EU Commission. As additional functionality requested by users was being built into the online system, I decided not to activate the submit facility immediately, in order to give applicants and advisers as much time as possible to familiarise themselves with the scheme before finalising their applications. In addition, I also secured approval to extend the closing date for applications to 22 May, 2015.

At this point in time, I believe the facility to formally submit applications can be activated, and it is my intention to do so this week. However, once an application has been submitted it cannot be recalled and no further changes can be made to it. Farmers and advisors should therefore satisfy themselves fully that applications are ready and complete before submitting same.