Most of the applications have been approved and letters are now being issued to farmers.

On 9 February, Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed said: “Processing of GLAS tranche three applications is ongoing and, to date, some 12,400 applications have passed all validations and have been selected into the scheme.”

He also said that the remaining 1,600 applications required further checks, including validation of documents.

Still no payments

There are still ongoing delays with previous tranches of GLAS, with 8,000 farmers still waiting to receive payments.

Last week, Minister Creed told the Irish Farmers Journal that he could not say when the remaining farmers will be paid.

“I apologise to farmers who are caught up in the delays. We are working flat out to get them paid.”

Almost 30,000 farmers have been paid just over €105m in GLAS payments since December.

Last week, a further €2.79m was issued to 768 farmers under GLAS I and II.

The Department has said on numerous occasions that ongoing IT systems have caused the delays.

The Minister told the Dáil last week that “Department officials are working through all outstanding cases on an individual basis, with the intention of processing payments which meet all required regulatory requirements as soon as possible”.

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