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There are no plans to reopen GLAS for new entrants as the scheme is full and all funding is committed, Minister for Agriculture Dara Calleary has said.
GLAS contracts for some 36,000 farmers are due to expire at the end of the year. However, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar indicated last week that the scheme will be rolled over until the new CAP begins.
There had been calls to reopen the scheme at that point to new entrants to farming since the last GLAS application window and for some 2,000 farmers whose AEOS contracts ended in 2018.
REPS
However, Minister Calleary ruled this out in response to a parliamentary question from Fianna Fáil’s Brendan Smith.
Instead, Minister Calleary stated that his priority will be piloting a new €1.5bn agri-environmental scheme set out in the programme for government.
“This new scheme will be included in Ireland’s CAP strategic plan and we aim to pilot some elements of this in the transitional phase between the CAP programming periods, as well as adopting the best elements of our existing agri-environment schemes,” he said.
The minister said early lessons from locally led schemes were particularly impressive and some measures in GLAS had delivered “really meaningful environmental results”.
“It is important therefore that we reflect on what has worked and what hasn’t worked in designing new measures,” he said.
Transition
The CAP transitional period is expected to last for one or two years but it has not yet been finalised.
“We are pressing hard for the earliest possible adoption of the EU regulations to facilitate the operation of schemes during the transitional period as the first priority,” the minister said.
“This is to provide some certainty until such time as CAP regulations and associated funding arrangements are agreed. As soon as we have this legal certainty, we will provide clarity and engage with all the relevant stakeholders on next steps.”
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