Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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1176. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of persons awaiting GLAS payments nationally, and in County Kerry specifically (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19615/17]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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A total of 3099 cases, of which 2175 are GLAS 1 and 924 are GLAS 2, have not passed all of the required regulatory checks, require further investigation and have therefore not yet been sent for payment.

Of this number 125 GLAS 1 and 62 GLAS 2 cases are in Co Kerry. Files continue to be reviewed, further processed and sent for payment on a weekly basis as issues are cleared. The Department is also contacting applicants directly if there is an issue which they, the applicant needs to address to allow payment to issue.

It is acknowledged that there have been delays and issues in respect of the 2016 advance payments for GLAS 1 and 2 applicants but it should be noted that 2016 is the first full year of payment under the Scheme. This Scheme is subject to EU regulatory requirements and all applications for payment must be cross-checked against a series of Departmental databases including the Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS). This has presented significant challenges due to the complexity of the Scheme and the level of regulatory checks associated with the Scheme. It is however also worth noting that the GLAS Scheme has already exceeded the target set out in the Rural Development Plan of 50,000 participants by 2018, achieving this target a full year ahead of the schedule.

My Department is continuing to process payments for all cases which clear all of the regulatory checks and is engaging with applicants to progress their payment applications.