Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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536. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will commission extra staff to deal with backlog of GLAS 2 payments for persons in counties Cavan and Monaghan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5734/17]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Outstanding payments under GLAS 2 are largely due to unresolved queries associated with individual applications.  All GLAS applications must pass regulatory controls and validations as is the case with all EU co-funded schemes.

Within my Department there are twenty-six staff assigned to administering the operation of the GLAS scheme which includes processing of all GLAS applications and payments, all policy matters associated with the Scheme and financial control and management of the Scheme.

Department officials are working through all outstanding cases, including those in counties Cavan and Monaghan, on an individual basis with the intention of processing payments which meet all required regulatory requirements as soon as possible.

I would like to emphasise that every effort is being made in order to ensure that outstanding payments are issued without delay.