Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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313. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the timeframe for the completion of the upgrade of his Department's GLAS information technology systems; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18456/17]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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My Department has delivered over 20 new schemes under the current CAP programme 2014-2020. The design, development and roll-out of information technology systems have been critical to support this delivery. The Department is constantly upgrading and improving all its IT systems, including the GLAS system, in order to support better scheme delivery.

In relation to GLAS, the core IT systems are in place, which has meant that payments commenced last December, and to date almost 33,000 farmers have received their 2016 advance payment. Payments runs are continuing on a weekly basis as further cases are cleared.