Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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296. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of persons in receipt of GLAS 1, 2 and 3 who received the 85% advance payment of their 2019 payments by county, in tabular form; the number of persons who have passed the payment approval checks and are awaiting their 85% portion of their 2019 payments; the number of GLAS recipients that have yet to receive this portion of payment by county; if the same information for 2019 balancing payments will be provided; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52464/19]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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To date, 43,051 GLAS participants have received their 2019 advance payment. In addition, GLAS Plus payments have also been paid to 1,617 GLAS farmers. This amounts to over €152m paid since 2019 payments commenced on 4 November 2019 and equates to 93% of eligible cases paid.

My Department is working closely with GLAS farmers and their advisors to ensure that payments issue to compliant farmers as quickly as possible. I would encourage any GLAS applicants who have been contacted by the Department with queries in relation to their applications or have outstanding documentation, such as Low Emission Slurry spreading and Rare Breeds forms, to ensure these issues are resolved without delay so that payments can be processed. GLAS payments will continue to issue on a weekly basis.

In accordance with the EU regulatory requirements, GLAS balancing payments can only commence when the Member State has verified that all on-farm inspections required have been carried out. It is currently anticipated that GLAS balancing payments at the rate of 15% will commence before the end of May 2020.

GLAS payments will continue to issue on a weekly basis.

Advance payments for 2018 to date are as follows: