Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue has today (Wednesday, November 10) announced that 2021 advance payments under the Green, Low-Carbon Agri-Environment Scheme (GLAS) will commence this week ahead of schedule.
Payments amounting to €118 million will arrive in almost 34,000 GLAS farmers’ bank accounts this week. This brings payments to farmers under the scheme to date to almost €1.1 billion.
The minister said: “I am delighted to confirm that advance payments to 34,000 GLAS participants, valued at €118 million are issuing this week. This is a week ahead of schedule and farmers across the country will benefit from these payments.
“It is always a key priority of mine and the department to issue payments as quickly as possible as I know how critical they are to farmers and their businesses.
“These advance payments at a rate of 85% of the full annual payment are an important support to farmers in the delivery of key environmental actions and of course are important to the wider rural economy,” the minister added.
He continued: “I have previously outlined that a key priority for my department is the efficient issuing of scheme payments to farmers. I am very pleased that these payments are commencing one week ahead of our stated target of mid-November.
“I am also pleased to confirm that GLAS payments valued at a total of over €1.12 billion have now issued to Irish farmers since the commencement of the GLAS scheme in October 2015.”
“The relationship between agriculture and the environment is more important than ever and the enthusiasm of farmers to participate in agri-environment schemes such as GLAS shows their commitment to environmental action,” Minister McConalogue concluded.
GLAS 2021 advance payments will continue to issue on a weekly basis as cases are cleared and approved for payment. Any scheme participants with outstanding actions or documentation to return to the department are asked to do so immediately in order that their payment can be processed.