Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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912. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his plans to re-open the GLAS scheme; if so, when this will happen; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46145/17]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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The target set out in the Rural Development Plan to approve 50,000 GLAS participants before the end of 2018 has already been achieved.

There are no plans to re-open the scheme. My focus now is on ensuring that payments to the 51,000 participants are processed and my Department is working hard to begin making these 2017 advance payments in the coming weeks. The GLAS scheme is one of a suite of many RDP schemes and the re-opening of any scheme can only be considered within the overall RDP budget which is currently fully committed.

To allow us to make the 2017 advance payments, I would again remind the 5,500 participants of GLAS 1 and GLAS 2 who have not yet submitted their nutrient management plan to do so immediately so that their outstanding balancing payment and future GLAS payments, including the 2017 advance payment, can issue.