Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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751. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the position regarding GLAS applications; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22500/16]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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For GLAS Tranche 1 applications with a start-date of 1 October 2015 and which have GLAS actions which are payable in 2015 are eligible for a 2015 part-year payment (covering the three month period 1 October -31 December 2015).

Under EU Regulations governing the Scheme and other area-based payment schemes, a comprehensive administration check, including cross-checks with the Land Parcel Identification System, must be completed before any payment can issue. Some 20,400 applicants have successfully completed the pre-payment validation checks and have received the first instalment, representing up to 85%, of their 2015 part year payment.

There were a number of applications, which were not passing the GLAS pre-payment validation checks for 2015 due to IT data issues and applications not fulfilling scheme requirements. The majority of IT and data issues have now been resolved and outstanding applications are currently being put back through the pre-payment validation process. Any issues identified with individual cases are being followed up on a case by case basis.

Applications that have successfully completed the latest GLAS pre-payment validation checks for 2015 will be sent for payment shortly.