Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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13. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of commonage farmers in County Wexford who have applied for inclusion in the green low-carbon agri-environmental scheme; if he is satisfied with the uptake to this scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26108/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I welcome the fact that nearly 27,000 applications were submitted in the first tranche of GLAS applications, which is very much in line with the projections I made when launching the scheme.  Farmers have shown a keen interest in the Scheme and have worked along with their advisors to apply in significant numbers. In doing so they have committed to actions and farming prescriptions which are expected to deliver substantial environmental benefits in the years ahead. These actions will improve and maintain our water quality, will encourage biodiversity and the maintenance of valuable habitats, while also promoting climate change mitigation. These farmers are the custodians of our farmed landscape and in joining GLAS they are continuing the important conservation work which has already been carried out in previous agri-environment schemes.

The management of our uplands by means of commonage management plans is given the highest priority in GLAS and I welcome the fact 3,934 applications by commonage farmers were received in the first tranche.  A total of 34 farmers with commonage land in County Wexford have applied to join GLAS. There are a total of 24 commonages in Wexford, and the applications received cover 15 of these, or 63% of all commonages in the county. I am very happy with this level of take-up in the first tranche of the new Scheme.

The proposed commonage management plans are a major step towards the establishment of greatly enhanced management regimes for these upland areas. While it is clear that in general there are commonage farmers who have not yet applied for the Scheme, many of those who have not yet joined are in AEOS and intend to see these contracts out before joining GLAS. Others may have waited in order to see if a commonage management plan is commenced on their particular commonage. This option was open to farmers, given that commonage management plans can be joined at a later date and that priority access remains open to these farmers.

I am very optimistic that the numbers of commonage farmers applying to join GLAS will increase significantly over time. A phased recruitment to both GLAS and to the various Commonage Management Plans was anticipated in the scheme design, and specific provision has been made to accommodate these farmers on that basis.