Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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295. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of farmers enrolled in the AEOS scheme whose contracts ceased on 31 December 2018, by county in tabular form; if he will consider permitting such farmers to apply to join GLAS; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52463/19]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Participants in both REPS and AEOS were eligible to transfer to the GLAS scheme under Section 7.4 of the Terms and Conditions of all three GLAS tranches, which stated:

“ All participants currently in the Agri-environment Options Scheme (AEOS) and the Rural Environmental Protection Scheme (REPS) may apply to join GLAS... AEOS and REPS participants must exit their existing contracts before a new GLAS contract can commence.”

Information meetings were held at the launch of GLAS in 2015 and attendees were informed of details of the scheme including the option to transfer to GLAS. Information on the option to move from AEOS to GLAS was also provided at various forums including by Department staff at the Ploughing Championships each year after GLAS was launched.

Agri-environment policy is included in the CAP reform negotiations currently under way and any future schemes will be dependent on the outcome of these negotiations.

The table below shows the number of AEOS contracts that ceased on 31 December 2018 by county: