EC Directive 75/268, as amended, allows for the classification as disadvantaged of "farming areas which are homogeneous from the point of view of natural production conditions" and this description clearly implies areas and not individual farms. The directive also allows for the limited classification of "small areas affected by specific handicaps". How small these latter areas may be has never been previously specified in writing by the EC but our clear understanding is that they would have to be much larger than the size of any farm in Ireland. Accordingly, the Deputy's suggestion does not fall within the definitions applicable in the directive as it now stands and I see little hope of having the relevant provisions revised in the way suggested.
There is also the practical requirement that disadvantaged areas must be defined in terms of map references and territorial constants such as townlands and DEDs which do not vary in size over time as individual farms do.
I accept, of course, that there is a problem that some individual farms in otherwise well structured areas, because of a variety of factors, may be relatively disadvantaged. While it does not appear possible to deal with these under the disadvantaged areas directive, I will continue to seek solutions to their problems in other ways.