AEOS payments are to commence this week, according to Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney. In excess of €45m will be paid out before Christmas following detailed checks by the Department of Agriculture. This will bring the total paid out on AEOS for the year to in excess of €75m.

More AEOS payments are due to go out in 2016 for problem cases currently being resolved by the Department.

The €45m follows on from over €5m paid out to the remaining REPS (Rural and Environmental Protection Scheme) farmers at the end of November, which in turn brought the total paid in REPS for 2015 to over €30m for the year.

AEOS was the predecessor to the Green Low Carbon Agri-Environment Scheme (GLAS). AEOS was launched in 2010 and was itself a replacement for REPS.

As with GLAS, both AEOS and REPS were designed to help protect wildlife habitats, endangered species of flora and fauna and the broader rural environment as well as underpin the production of quality food in an environmentally friendly manner.

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