Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney said internet connection is the main issue facing those hoping to apply for GLAS.

Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal at Bord Bia's Marketplace event on Thursday, the minister said planners are experiencing difficulties with submitting larger files due to slow upload speeds.

"The main frustration has been around broadband connection, rather than the actual system itself," he said. "It takes a long time to upload maps because of broadband problems in parts of the country.

"We’re not pretending the thing is perfect, even though I think it’s working quite well now. If there are things that need to be fixed we’ll try to do that," he added. "If people are having trouble or difficulties, we need to hear about them and we’ll do what we can to address these concerns."

A plan for rural broadband was launched by Minister for Communications Alex White in November 2014, with every home in the country expected to have high speed internet connectivity by 2020.

According to figures from the government, only just 36% of Roscommon and 40% of Mayo and Leitrim are able to get broadband from a private operator. Meanwhile, 99% of Dublin can access broadband.