Commonage farmers participating in GLAS I and II that have no planner assigned to prepare an Interim Commonage Management Plan (CMP) will receive payments along with all other existing GLAS participants.

In response to a parliamentary question from Fianna Fáil’s Éamon Ó Cuív, Agriculture Minister Michael Creed said that GLAS payments will be made to commonages where the assignment of an adviser is currently under review.

“My Department is currently putting in place a procedure which will facilitate the processing of 2016 GLAS payment for shareholders on these commonages to take place at the same time as all other GLAS I and GLAS II participants,” Minister Creed said.

Planners have been assigned to over 2,700 commonages to prepare plans to receive payment under the first two tranches of GLAS. It is understood that planners are responsible for each CMP and not the agency that they work for, such as Teagasc, FRS or a private planner.

Reassessed

Minister Creed said that 77 commonages are being reassessed as the initial advisor is no longer in a position to complete the CMP and that a further 35 commonages have had no adviser assigned because there were no expressions of interest received at tender.

“Some 6,600 farmers have declared 13,000 commonages shares as part of their GLAS applications of which approximately 300 have declared shares on the 112 commonages for which the assignment of a commonage adviser is yet to be finalised,” the minister confirmed.

He said that there have been 255 commonages associated with 571 GLAS participants that have had commonage planners assigned that later resigned or were reassigned. “My Department has put in place arrangements to facilitate payments for these participants to ensure payments are processed as promptly as possible,” Minister Creed added.

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