Replying to a parliamentary question from Fianna Fáil agriculture spokesman Charlie McConalogue, Minister Creed said the prepayment checking process is currently under way for the first full year of GLAS I and GLAS II contract payments.

"This is with a view to commencing payment of the first instalment representing 85% of total payment due before the end of 2016," he said.

Back in October, the Department said these payments would be under way by early December.

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Currently there are 26,300 farmers in GLAS I and 11,700 farmers in GLAS II - a total of 38,000.

GLAS III

GLAS III recently opened for applications and is currently oversubscribed, with more than 14,000 farmers looking for one of the 12,000 places left.

Pressure is therefore growing on the Department to allow more farmers into the scheme.

This week, Minister Creed said given the large volume of applications being created by applicants, he would urge them to adopt "higher priority environmental actions that will promote them from tier three to a higher tier, thus increasing their chances of selection into the scheme".

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Time and space running out for GLAS.