Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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777. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of farmers who were excluded from green low-carbon agri-environment scheme phase 2; his plans for their exclusion; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12632/16]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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The overall target for GLAS is to attract 50,000 farmers into the scheme. I am pleased to confirm that some 38,000 farmers have been approved into the first two tranches of GLAS, GLAS 1 and GLAS 2, while ensuring adequate provision remains for Tranche 3 of the scheme. The unprecedented level of applications to the Scheme has meant that for the second tranche of GLAS, priority was given to what are called Tier 1 and Tier 2 candidates, i.e. those who either manage key environmental assets like endangered birds, protected habitats or high-quality water courses, or who have committed to undertake particularly valuable environmental actions like growing feed-crops for wild birds, adopting low-impact tillage techniques or using low-emission slurry spreading methods. 

Farmers had been urged to present the highest standard environmental plans under GLAS 2, and to adopt actions that would promote them from Tier 3 to a higher tier, thereby significantly increasing the chance of selection. I am delighted that over 80% of applicants in this second tranche of GLAS opted to do so, and with the funding available to me I have been able to approve all of these.

Some 14,000 applications for GLAS 2 were received on the Departments online system with over 11,500 of these applications receiving approval into the scheme with a contract start date of 1 January 2016. Based on the eligibility and selection criteria 2,411 GLAS 2 applications were not admitted to the scheme. An additional small number of applications are currently under review by Department officials, and if found to be successful, will be admitted to the scheme.

A third tranche of GLAS will open later this year and any applicant who was unsuccessful under GLAS 2 has the opportunity now to re-examine their proposed farm-plan in consultation with their advisor to see how it might be improved to increase their chance of selection under GLAS 3 and submit a new application for GLAS 3 when the scheme is opened.