Vol. 367 No. 1
(Limerick West) asked the Minister for Agriculture the criteria used in the survey undertaken in the most recent review of disadvantaged areas; who conducted the survey; the system used; and the consultations which took place with ACOT, AFT and farm organisations.
151.
(Limerick West) and Mr. P. Brennan asked the Minister for Agriculture the reason a large number of townlands in County Wicklow, previously designed as disadvantaged for the purposes of the sheep headage payments scheme, have been excluded in the most recent review from being designated as more severely handicapped; and the data used to arrive at this conclusion regarding farm income, falling population and soil quality which must be satisfied under the criteria established by the EC.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 150 and 151 together. The most recent review of the boundaries of the disadvantaged areas, carried out by professional officers of my Department, was the most extensive and comprehensive examination carried out in this country. It involved surveying 10,000 townlands in some 600 district electoral divisions, covering approximately four million acres of land, and took into account the appropriate data available from all sources in respect of each of the areas surveyed. Detailed consideration was given to all aspects relevant to the reclassification of land from the mountain sheep grazing category to the more severely handicapped category, both in County Wicklow and elsewhere in the country.
The criteria used in the survey for designating areas as disadvantaged are laid down in Council Directive 85/350/EEC concerning the Community list of less favoured farming areas within the meaning of Council Directive 75/268/EEC (Ireland) as follows:
(a) the presence of infertile land, as referred to in Article 3(4)(a) of Directive 75/268/EEC, is defined as percentage of ploughed area less than 7.8 per cent and a stocking rate of less than one adult bovine livestock unit per forage hectare:
(b) the concept of economic results of farming appreciably below average, as referred to in Article 3(4)(b) of Directive 75/268/EEC, is defined in terms of family farm income per male farm worker not exceeding 80 per cent of the national average;
(c) low population density, as referred to in Article 3(4)(c) of Directive 75/268/EEC, is defined as not more than 27 inhabitants per square kilometre (national and Community averages being 49 and 163 inhabitants per square kilometre respectively), with a minimum percentage of the total working population engaged in agriculture of 30 per cent.
All the criteria must be proved simultaneously before an area can be classified as disadvantaged.
