Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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468. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the status of an application by a person (details supplied) under the green low-carbon agri-environment scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16746/16]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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An application under Tranche 2 of GLAS was received in my Department on the 8 December 2015 and the person named was approved into the GLAS 2 with effect from 1 January 2016. The first payment due to the person named is in respect of the 2016 scheme year and this will be processed in the final quarter of the year. An application was also received from the person named under the GLAS Traditional Farm Building Scheme, which supports the conservation of traditional farm buildings on GLAS-approved farms.  This scheme is jointly funded by my Department and the European Union, and is administered by the Heritage Council on behalf of my Department.   

I am delighted to say that over 500 applications were received for the Scheme under the first tranche and the Heritage Council is currently validating and evaluating all of these, ranking each application in accordance with the selection criteria published as part of the Scheme documentation. When that process is complete, they will notify all applicants of the outcome of their own application in due course. The Scheme remains open for the whole RDP period and anybody unsuccessful in one tranche is perfectly free to apply again under the next.