According to the Department of Agriculture, there have now been nearly 25,000 applications loaded onto the GLAS online system. "Of these, nearly 17,000 applications have the GLAS actions selected," a department spokesperson told the Irish Farmers Journal on Tuesday.

To benefit from the environmental scheme, farmers must first have an approved advisor set them up onto the government's computer system, and then select actions they will carry out to receive corresponding payments.

"Indications are that there will be over 25,000 applications fully loaded and submitted before the closing date of May 22", the Department said – thus exceeding its stated target.

There are no indications that a deadline extension will be granted now that Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney has announced the scheme would re-open for a second tranche in the autumn.

Last week, Teagasc wrote to one in five farmers seeking advice to apply for GLAS through its joint service with FRS, warning them that their applications may not be completed in time. Teagasc's head of advisory services Dermot McCarthy attributed the backlog to "technical glitches" in setting up farmers on the department's GLAS system.

The department said it has now "introduced a workaround specifically for Teagasc and this is working successfully."

The Agricultural Consultants Association said on Monday that upgrades to the Department's online system at the weekend had "made a difference" but "it's still not perfect".