asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if he will designate the Dublin and Wicklow mountains as an environmentally sensitive area; if he will seek funds from the EC to compensate farmers who have to restrict output on their farms in order to comply with the terms of the ESA; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Written Answers. - Dublin-Wicklow Mountains Designation.
100.
Because of the current limitations on the availability of Exchequer funds, it is not possible for the present to proceed with a scheme for the designation of environmentally sensitive areas where farming practices appropriate to the preservation of the environment would receive special encouragement.
However, the matter is one which I intend to keep very much in mind in the context of the availability to this country in due course of increased EC Structural Funds.