asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries when it is proposed to review the disadvantaged areas scheme; and if he envisages that the Macamore area, County Wexford will be included.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Disadvantaged Areas Scheme.
7.
A review of the operation of the disadvantaged areas scheme is nearing completion in my Department. As I stated in my reply to a question from the Deputy on 6th March 1975, the Macamore area does not qualify for inclusion in the disadvantaged areas since it does not meet the criteria laid down in the relevant EEC directive.
Could the Minister give us some further details of the review and the nature of it? Is it within the limits of the existing criteria or are the criteria themselves being reviewed?
The criteria themselves are not being reviewed. That may happen later.
From the disadvantage point of view, does the Minister not agree that there is probably no area in Ireland more deserving than Macamore? Will the Minister, therefore, follow the matter up to the fullest possible extent in an effort to ensure that this area will be included in the scheme?
I have a further note on the Macamore area which may help the Deputy.
It will not help me because I know it.
In the case of the Macamore area, two of the directive's criteria are not capable of being met. In the first place, the land cannot be said to be suffering from such a degree of handicap that is incapable of being overcome by any normal programme of improvement—in other words, the land is not permanently physically handicapped as required by the directive. Where land drainage has been carried out, the land has been found capable of catering for intensive livestock production. Second, there is the fact that the Macamore is surrounded by good quality land which means that farm incomes are relatively high. In the rural districts which embrace the Macamore farm incomes are significantly above the national average and not appreciably below, as required by the directive.
Does the Minister not agree that the directive is a damn bad one, and I say that emphatically, if it does not provide for areas like the Macamore?
Some of the best wheat yields in Ireland have been got in the Macamore.
Once every nine or ten years.
The Minister will know from the records in his Department that I at one time sought to have a very special scheme for the Macamore because of the conditions about which Deputy Browne complains. In regard to the general review, first of all would the Minister be able to give us a copy of the additional information he has read. I want it today. I am going to a Fianna Fáil convention in Wexford tomorrow.
Certainly.
I would like a copy of it today, if possible, because I am going to a Fianna Fáil Convention in Wexford tomorrow.
In regard to the general situation throughout the country could the Minister indicate that, if the criteria have not been amended in any way, to what extent is a review taking place? Is it simply looking at other areas to see if they can be made to come in under the criteria?
Yes, we are looking at a number of areas to see if anything has been missed in the investigations that have taken place up to the present. If a reinvestigation of certain areas can prove that they come within the existing criteria, then they will be included.
Could the Minister disclose to us what those areas are?
I can say, as of now, I am not very hopeful that there will be many additional areas defined. There is a prospect of one but that is about all.
Would the Minister ensure that Macamore will be included in the additional areas?
I am afraid Macamore is finally and definitely out.
Would the Minister confirm that this review is being undertaken by his Department and not by Commission people?
It is being undertaken by the Department, using all the information they can collect on it, but it has to be agreed with the Commission.
If an area is now turned down, have we to place the blame fairly on the Minister's Department for its rejection?
Deputy Haughey cannot get away with that because he knows that we have these constraints. We must work within the criteria of the directive at present. We cannot just remake the area to get it to fall within these criteria.
Could the Minister say when the review of the areas at present in progress is likely to be completed and, if an additional area or areas are allowed into the scheme, will they be involved for 1976?
I cannot give the Deputy an answer to the second part of the question because it has to be agreed by the Commission and I do not know how long that will take. But the review that is taking place here will be finished very soon.
Might I ask the Minister if full consultation is taking place with the committees of agriculture in each area as regards the extension of the scheme in particular areas?
Wherever it is felt that useful information can be got, it is being sought. We all know that every committee of agriculture would wish to include the maximum area in their county. Naturally, that is a local ambition but it is of limited value because of the fact——
Does the Minister—
I want to get on to the next question.
Does the Minister not think the committees of agriculture would be in the best position to provide the information necessary both for his Department and for the Commission?
I d not know whether the Deputy is speaking about membership of the committees or the technical people——
The technical people.
The technical people, of course, are influenced by the membership of the committees. On that account it is not as reliable as information secured by an impartial group that have no local axe to grind.
We have dwelt a rather long time on this question.
I appreciate the Chair's tolerance on this occasion. In the Joint EEC Oireachtas Committee we had before us a group of farmers from an area which was, for all other purposes, a first-class farming area, except for the fact that it was very hilly. It was not mountainous in the normal sense of the word—good land but very steeply sloped. Those farmers are very insistent that, because of the nature of the land, it was a difficult and disadvantaged farming area. Would that sort of situation be taken into account in the review?
It would depend entirely on the sort of farming carried out in that area.
Mixed.
It might constitute a serious disadvantage for certain types of farming but might not be a disadvantage at all for others. If it was capable of yielding an income up to or beyond the comparable income, then it simply could not be included.
Would the Minister not agree that either the EEC or his Department—his Department, if possible—should produce some scheme that will include the Macamore area? The best information he could give Deputy Haughey and myself going back to Wexford is that he will look after this disadvantaged area.
I am sure the Deputy appreciates that, if Deputy Haughey was not able to do this during his period in office, he is setting me a fairly difficult task.
He went some distance on it.