Michelle Mulherin (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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118. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if a person (details supplied) in County Mayo is eligible to apply for the green low-carbon agri-environment scheme 2016; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42090/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The second tranche of the GLAS scheme is currently open and applications which are accepted into this tranche of the Scheme will have a start date of 1 January 2016 for their GLAS contract. The closing date for submission of applications to GLAS tranche 2 is 7 December 2015.

To be eligible to participate in the Scheme a farmer must:

-Be aged eighteen years or over on date of submission of the application for support.

-Be the holder of an active herd number with Herd Owner status. Herd Keeper is not acceptable.

-Have all lands farmed declared in his/her name on the Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS).

Access to the GLAS scheme is structured around a hierarchy of three tiers, with Tier 1 receiving priority over Tier 2, and Tier 2 prioritised over Tier 3. This structure is designed to ensure the targeted and prioritised delivery of environmental benefits. Approval into the scheme is based on these pre-determined hierarchical criteria . For example, farmers with a Tier One priority environmental asset, such as commonage, Natura land, one of the endangered bird species, high status water, who keep rare breeds or farm organically, receive priority access into the scheme. Tier 2 actions receive the next priority access to the Scheme followed by Tier 3 actions.A summary outline of the Scheme Tiers and Actions is at Annex 1A of the Scheme’s terms and conditions booklet.

It is important to note that all applications to the Scheme must to be prepared by an approved GLAS advisor and must be submitted by the approved advisor via the Department’s online application system. If the person named is interested in the scheme, he should contact an approved advisor who will be able access the online system for him , review his possibilities under the Scheme and submit an application on their behalf if the person wishes to proceed.

Full details of the terms and conditions of the scheme and the list of approved GLAS advisors are available on my Department’s website.