asked the Minister for Agriculture the action he intends to take in regard to the fact that lowland drainage in the west is not now being entertained by his Department.
Written Answers. - Western Lowland Drainage.
392.
At a meeting of the Council of Ministers in July last, I secured agreement of the EEC to raise the ceiling for land drainage under the western drainage scheme from 100,000ha to 150,000ha. This enabled processing of applications which had been temporarily held up, to be resumed.
393.
asked the Minister for Agriculture if he will explain the changes that have been made in the western drainage scheme; the reason for these changes; and if he is aware that these changes are damaging the interests of the entire scheme and are contrary to the concept under which the scheme was initiated in Brussels.
394.
asked the Minister for Agriculture whether he will remove the hectare limit on land that may qualify under the western drainage scheme in view of the fact that what is being dealt with are large tracts of land that require to be drained in the case of hill, mountain and bog land; and whether he agrees that it is a question of getting more land into production in the west rather than too much land going to one applicant.
With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle I propose to take Questions Nos. 393 and 394 together.
Two modifications were recently introduced into the western drainage scheme. The first is that the maximum area eligible for grant aid will be 40 hectares. This limitation was necessary to ensure — in view of the large number of applicants and the overall ceiling of 150,000 hectares — that as many farmers as possible benefit under the Scheme.
The second modification is that grant aid will be limited to a cost of £800 per hectare. This was introduced to ensure that limited public resources are used to the most economic advantage. These limits are generous and I am satisfied that they are in the best interest of western drainage. They accord fully with the EEC directive.