Farmers who are accepted into the Green Low-carbon Agri-environment Scheme (GLAS) will receive their first payment in December.

The Department of Agriculture confirmed to the Irish Farmers Journal on Wednesday that payments are likely to hit farmers’ bank accounts in early December. The Department also confirmed that farmers who have been successful in gaining entry to GLAS will be notified by the end of September.

Farmers will be paid for October, November and December this year. The Department expects the average annual payment to be close to €5,000.

The Department previously said that it was setting aside €20m for GLAS this year but early indications that a budget for 27,000 farmers with an average payment of €4,800 would require a budget of €22.5m.

Farmers will receive one-quarter of their full-year GLAS payment in 2015 as they are only being paid for the last three months of the year.

Welcoming the volume of applications, Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney declared GLAS a “success”.

“By any standards, GLAS is already a huge success and it is clearly going to play a key role in the protection of our rural environment over the new programming period,” the Minister said.

No delay

IFA rural development chairman Flor McCarthy has urged the Department of Agriculture to ensure that payments are made to all farmers who entered without delay.

“What we cannot have is a situation where farmers are having to wait any longer than they have done so already for payments. Farmers need assurances from the Department,” McCarthy said.

Once all approvals under the first tranche have been made, it is expected that the second round of GLAS will open in early October.