Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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1176. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the status of an agricultural scheme payment for a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1049/18]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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The person named was approved into GLAS 1 with a contract commencement date of 1 October 2015 and has received full payments in respect of the 2015 and 2016 Scheme years.

Regarding the 2017 advance payment, the Department has been in direct contact with the applicant in relation to an outstanding requirement in relation to the eligibility of an action. The applicant has been advised to consult with his Advisor in relation to this issue. Once the issue is resolved the payment will issue. GLAS payments are issuing on a weekly basis.

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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1177. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his views on a matter (details supplied) regarding GLAS payments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1055/18]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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To date the Department has issued 2017 GLAS advance payments to 39,000 famers totalling €140m. GLAS pay-runs are continuing on a weekly basis with further payments scheduled to issue this week as cases are cleared for payment.

However, between 3-4,000 GLAS applicants remain ineligible for a payment for a number of reasons including participants with outstanding annual Low Emission Slurry Spreading (LESS) forms. The majority of applicants who correctly submitted their LESS form on time have now been paid their 2017 GLAS advance. The Department has made great efforts to bring this issue to the attention of farmers and advisors. Multiple reminders have issued. Participants with outstanding LESS forms are urged to submit them immediately.

Rare Breeds Forms are outstanding or requiring amendment in almost half of the cases qualifying for this action. Nutrient Management Plans remain outstanding in respect of some GLAS I and II participants and applicants should contact their advisors directly to have these submitted urgently. The Commonage Management Plan (CMP) requirements have not been met by some participant’s Commonage Advisor. Non-Submission of a 2017 BPS application – participants who fall into this category are being advised on the steps required to rectify the situation.

The remaining cases continue to be processed by the Department. As part of the processing of GLAS payments the Department is required to verify all of the data on which the claim is made. Where cases, correctly and accurately, do not pass the validation process they must be further examined and the issue arising resolved. Once these cases pass all validations they are included in future payment runs. Where action is needed by the participant concerned the Department is in direct contact with them.