Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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37. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will seek to broaden the GLAS scheme to allow additional farmers who have been excluded in previous rounds to access the scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37714/16]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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GLAS is an agri-environment climate measure under the Rural Development Programme 2014-2020. Its aim is to deliver environmental benefits which will protect and enhance our biodiversity and water quality and which will raise awareness of and encourage actions which mitigate the effects of climate change. The scheme contains actions which will deliver the expected environmental dividends and is the result of widespread consultation with stakeholders and of protracted negotiations with the European Commission.

GLAS is a voluntary Scheme where participants elect to carry out specific environmental commitments and in order for a verifiable benefit to be achieved the governing regulations require that those commitments must be delivered for a minimum of five years. There is a wide range of actions to choose from in GLAS, providing the scope for farmers across all types of farming systems to submit applications and maximise their payment under the scheme.

GLAS is structured along three distinct tiers, with priority entry to farmers in Tier 1 (that is those with Priority Environmental Assets such as farmland bird habitats, commonages and high status water areas), followed by Tier 2, with Tier 3 farmers being allocated places last.

The unprecedented level of applications to the Scheme is in line with forecasts by my Department but has meant that for GLAS 2, priority had to be given to 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.

Close to 38,000 farmers are actively participating in GLAS following the first two tranches and in respect of the third tranche of GLAS (GLAS 3) selection into the Scheme will depend on the level of applications received and the overall funding available for the Scheme. The same criteria for priority access to the Scheme as applied in previous tranches will be applied for GLAS 3.

Given the strong participation to date in GLAS I would again urge farmers applying for the third tranche in consultation with their GLAS advisor to present the highest standard of environmental plan under GLAS 3 and, where possible, to adopt actions that would promote them from Tier 3 to increase their chance of selection into the Scheme.

I can confirm that the level of participation in GLAS to date and the continued interest in the third tranche of GLAS will ensure that all of the funding allocated to the Scheme in Ireland's Rural Development Plan 2014-2020 being fully utilised. In its first year of implementation GLAS has seen almost 38,000 farmers approved into the Scheme which is an unprecedented level of participation for an agri-environment scheme in Ireland.