A decision on the 14,000 farmers who applied for GLAS tranche two will be made before the end of January, according to the Department of Agriculture. The Department is processing GLAS tranche two applications and it must inform farmers of its decision before 31 January 2016 to ensure farmers have a start day under the scheme of 1 January.

Minister of Agriculture Simon Coveney had initially said that 10,000 to 13,000 places would be available under the second tranche. However, this number could be extended if he felt there was an adequate budget available under the scheme.

Some 17,625 farmers receive a first instalment payment under GLAS I in December, with the total value of payments coming to just over €11.5m. The average was €652 but commonage farmers were paid €400 each. This was based on the 85% advance on 17 hectares, the average commonage farmer holding. The reason for this was to avoid issues over claims.

A further payment run for first instalment GLAS 2015 part-year payments will be processed before the end of January.

Further AEOS and REPS payment runs will begin again by the end of this week.

Actual expenditure for the year finished at €32.25m for REPS and €80.27m for AEOS.