Tom Neville (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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581. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the status of an application by a person (details supplied) under tier 3 of the green low-carbon agri-environment scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19147/16]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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An application for Tranche 2 of the GLAS Scheme for the persons named was received on the dedicated GLAS online system on the 3 December 2015. The unprecedented level of applications to the Scheme has meant that for GLAS 2, priority is being 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. Over 80% of applicants in this second tranche of GLAS opted to do so, and with the funding available were approved.

As the application by the persons named was ranked as a Tier 3 application it was not selected into the scheme and the persons named were notified of the outcome in writing on the 10 March 2016.

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

An official from my Department will contact the persons named directly.