Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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235. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of applicants who have natural heritage area lands but no special protection area or special areas of conservation and who have been accepted into the green low-carbon agri-environment scheme, and the number of those who are waiting on the next tranche, by county. [7153/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The designation of land is a matter for the Minister of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht in the first instance. Based on the information provided by that Department, a total of 411 farmers have been identified with parcels in agricultural use carrying solely a Natural Heritage Area designation.

Of the farmers identified, 182 have been approved into GLAS. Farmers not already in the scheme may submit an application under Tranche 3 which is due to be launched in Autumn this year. GLAS is a voluntary agri-environment scheme. It is a matter of choice for individual farmers to decide if the scheme suits them. Therefore it cannot be taken for granted that all those who have not yet joined are waiting to join GLAS.

The information on a county basis is set out in the following table.