Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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55. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of GLAS 1, 2 and 3 farmers who have received their 2017 advance payment; the number who have not received this payment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7149/18]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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The GLAS scheme is the most popular scheme ever run under a Rural Development Programme in Ireland. The original target of 50,000 participants was surpassed well ahead of the targeted date - such is the popularity of the scheme. Given that the first approvals under the scheme run from 1 October 2015 it is a remarkable achievement to have exceeded this target within a period of 15 months.

GLAS 2017 advance payments have now issued to just under 44,000 applicants, representing over 93% of all participants that are eligible for payment. Of the 25,214 applicants for GLAS 1, 22,555 have received the 2017 advance payment, with 2,659 remaining. 9,700 and 11,540 have been paid for GLAS 2 and GLAS 3 respectively, with the Department continuing to process applications for the remaining 1,527 and 1,740 in these tranches.

In approximately 2,700 of the outstanding cases, applicants remain ineligible for payment until they complete the steps they must take before the Department can process their payment. The general issues preventing payments taking place include the non-submission of nutrient management plans (NMPs), commonage management plans, low emission slurry spreading forms, rare breeds forms and 2017 BPS application issues that remain to be resolved.

Other cases will be examined separately to clarify what remedy can be put in place to resolve their particular issue. Where action is needed by the participant concerned the Department, if it has not already done so will be in direct contact with them.

Updates are published weekly on my Department’s website and clearly show that steady progress is being made in reducing outstanding cases. While my officials are prioritising the clearing of cases and where a farmer has been contacted for additional information it is important that any such request is responded to as the information requested is essential to finalise all checks.