The Agricultural Minister is being called to address thousands of farmers concerns over their GLAS applications.

Fianna Fáil Candidate for Sligo-North Leitrim Cllr Eamon Scanlon made the call after a sudden change in the eligibility criteria for the scheme.

Cllr Scanlon commented: "There are a lot of concerned farmers who paid substantial sums of money to scheme planners only to find out the goalposts were moved after they had submitted their applications. Hundreds of farmers across the North West submitted plans which they were advised would qualify only to be told a few weeks later that the bar had been raised and they would fall short of the new targets.

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"The new agri scheme, which aims to promote environmentally friendly farm practices, has already had to revise its own deadline due to low uptake. The Minister expected more than 30,000 applications to be approved for funding, but the latest figures available show that the numbers are falling well short of that mark. It makes absolutely no sense for the Minister to start changing the criteria and making it more difficult for the most disadvantaged farmers to apply when the target for applications will most definitely not be met.

"There is a complete vacuum of information regarding the changes and how they will affect the applications process and this is causing immense confusion among farmers in the North West. Will these farmers have a chance to amend their plans to reach the new scoring target of 16 points? Will those who applied before the bar was raised be approved in line with the criteria at the time of submission?"

(CD)