Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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371. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of farmers who have received payments under the green low-carbon agri-environment scheme; the average payment made to these farmers; the percentage payment made to them; if GLAS+ payments have been made yet; if not when they will be paid; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1014/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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At the end of December 2015 my Department processed a first instalment of the 2015 part-year payments (covering the three month period 1 October -31 December 2015) for GLAS Tranche 1 applications. To be eligible for a part-year payment, it was necessary to have an approved start-date of 1 October 2015 for the GLAS contract start, have GLAS actions which are payable in 2015, and to have passed the Department’s payment validation checks. These first instalment payments represent up to 85% of the estimated value of the 2015 part-year payment.

Some 17,500 applicants received their first instalment 2015 payment in December, with an average payment of €650 per applicant. The Department is continuing to process applications which are eligible for a 2015 part-year payment and further payments will be processed by the end of January. The balancing payments in respect of 2015 part-year payments are scheduled to be processed in May 2016 when all GLAS 2015 inspections have been completed. This 2015 part-year balancing payment will include the GLAS+ payments for eligible applications.

It is important to note that these part-year payments are purely in respect of actions that were applicable to 2015 and cannot be used as a basis to extrapolate the average value of a GLAS contract over a full year. Farmers will only see the full value of their contracts when payments are calculated for 2016, the first full year of their five-year contracts. Current indications are that for Tranche 1 applications, the average value will be of the order of €4,200, not including any GLAS Plus payments. Current indications are that some 1,400 applications from the first tranche will qualify for GLAS Plus, increasing their annual payment to around €6,500 on average.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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372. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of farmers who joined the first tranche of the green low-carbon agri-environment scheme who are eligible for GLAS+ payments; the estimated average payment that will be due to each eligible farmer for GLAS+ payments; when these payments will be made; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1015/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The full details of the number of GLAS Tranche 1 applications which qualify for GLAS+ payments will only be available when full year GLAS payment calculations are finalised. The latest estimate indicate that some 1,400 Tranche 1 applications will qualify for GLAS + payments, increasing their annual payment to around €6,500 on average. GLAS + payments in respect of the 2015 part-year payments will issue as part of the 2015 balancing payment process currently scheduled for May 2016.