Fine Gael TD for Dublin Fingal, Alan Farrell, has welcomed the news that 53 farmers in Dublin have applied for the first tranche of GLAS funding, Ireland’s new agri-environment scheme, co funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development.
The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Simon Coveney TD, has confirmed that 53 farmers in Dublin have applied for the first tranche of GLAS funding and that he expects that most of these will draw close to the maximum annual payment of €5,000.
“I am particularly pleased to hear that the majority of farmers who have successfully applied for the Green Low-Carbon Agri-Environment Scheme (GLAS) look set to receive close to the maximum payment. There had been concerns that only a minority of farmers could ever hope to achieve this level of payment. These concerns have been allayed.
“The GLAS scheme is set to play a vital role in the protection of Dublin Fingal’s rural environment. Objectives of this scheme include conserving permanent pastures, promoting actions to protect birds, bats and bees, safeguarding water courses and archaeological monuments, and establishing new hedgerows and groves of native trees.
“Protecting the agri-environment and supporting strong, sustainable farming is key to the continued growth of the agri-food sector. GLAS will make a big difference in achieving this goal and it will provide support for farmers in doing so. I am glad that farmers in Dublin Fingal have applied for funding under this scheme and I hope that more farmers in the North County will apply for investment from the second tranche of the GLAS scheme later this year.”