This is a subscriber-only article
Answering a parliamentary question from Roscommon-Galway TD Michael Fitzmaurice this Wednesday, the minister said that the commonage eligibility requirements for applications to the third tranche of the Green Low-Carbon Agri-Environment Scheme (GLAS) have been updated from those which applied in GLAS I and GLAS II.
Creed said that under GLAS III commonage farmers who applied for the basic payment scheme (BPS) in 2015, whether declared in previous years or not, are eligible for the agri-environmental scheme.
The minister said this update was notified to all GLAS advisers and also published the circular on the Department’s website.
Farmers with commonage receive priority access to the GLAS Scheme
Creed added that new entrants to farming in 2016 who declared commonage in their first BPS application in 2016 will also qualify.
“Farmers with commonage receive priority access to the GLAS Scheme,” he told Fitzmaurice. However, farmers with privately owned hill or lowland are not automatically afforded priority access to the scheme unless they have a Priority Environmental Asset on their holding, Creed continued.
Controversy
The controversy over commonage farmer applications arose last week when the Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association (INHFA) presented to the Joint Oireachtas Agriculture Committee.
A representative of the INHFA claimed that on Friday 25 November, commonage farmers were issued with a Department circular which stated that, in order to be eligible for GLAS II, they needed to have submitted a single payment scheme (since replaced by the BPS) claim for their commonage share in 2014.
The organisation said that any other applicant to GLAS III qualifies “provided they have made an application in 2016”.
The INHFA added that this is “blatant discrimination against commonage farmers who have actively engaged in the management of commonages by acquiring dormant shares and becoming active on commonages”.
However, according to Minister Creed’s reply to Fitzmaurice, this eligibility requirement has since been updated to 2015, and not 2014.
SHARING OPTIONS: