asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the increased rates of recoupment for headage grants which he will be seeking in the 1989 EC farm talks; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
44.
Written Answers. - Disadvantaged Areas Scheme.
29.
asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the present position regarding the proposed extension of the disadvantaged areas scheme; when it is expected that his Department's officers will be carrying out assessments of areas which have applied for inclusion; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
47.
asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if he will make an application to the European Commission to have all areas not currently included in the disadvantaged areas designated as less severly handicapped under EC Directive 75/268.
95.
asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food, following his recent announcement at Mallow, County Cork in relation to the expansion of the disadvantaged areas scheme, whether this will apply to the Carraig na bhFear and Glenville areas of the Nagle mountains in County Cork; if so, if the scheme will be in force in the current year; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
105.
asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the number of staff from his Department who are involved in the survey for the review under the less-favoured areas directive; the counties which they are in at present; and when they commenced.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 29, 44, 47, 95 and 105 together.
A proposal to reclassify all existing less severely handicapped and mountain sheep areas to more severly handicapped status was made to the EC Commission on 4 February 1987. No specific proposal was made to extend the boundaries of the existing disadvantaged areas. The Commission indicated that the proposed across the board change did not meet the requirement in the basic EC Directive that the level of compensatory allowances (headage payments) should be fixed in accordance with the degree of severity of the permanent natural handicaps. This ruled out the payment of uniform rates of headage grants throughout all our disadvantaged areas and so the proposal was not acceptable to the Commission.
In the light of the reply from the Commission, the Government approved a modification of the February 1987 proposal to provide for a restructuring of the Disadvantaged Areas Scheme in a manner that should meet the objections raised. This new proposal which was lodged with the Commission on 4 November 1987 made a reasoned case for improved FEOGA financing and wider coverage of the Disadvantaged Areas Schemes including the question of extending the boundaries. The new proposal sought an increase in the EC contribution from 50 per cent to 75 per cent which would enable the proposed revisions to the schemes to be financed without imposing any additional burden on the Exchequer.
The Commission's interim reply to this proposal was received on 9 February 1988 and raised a number of queries which were dealt with in a letter from my Department to the Commission on 25 March 1988. A further interim reply received from the Commission on 18 May 1988 indicated that the main outstanding issue, i.e. our request for an increased EC contribution would have to be dealt with in the context of decisions on the Reform of the Structural Funds.
Discussions on those decisions are ongoing at present. While we have invoked the February 1988 decision on the doubling of the Structural Funds between now and 1992 in support of our case for increased recoupment, this is only one issue amongst a great many in the EC debate on the Reform of the Structural Funds and we must await the final outcome to that debate before the extent and timing of any increased recoupment will be known.
In the meantime, I have arranged that all areas submitted to my Department for inclusion in the disadvantaged areas for the first time or for reclassification will be surveyed. This survey will commence next week and will, of course, be concluded as quickly as possible. Following the conclusion of the survey the areas deemed eligible for inclusion in the disadvantaged areas or for reclassification will be submitted to the EC Commission for approval.
Over 100 staff from my Department will be involved in the survey and these will be deployed through the various counties in accordance with the amount of work involved in each case.
The EC has set specific criteria for the classification of areas as handicapped and many submissions have been received by my Department from farmers in those unclassified areas to the effect that they meet those criteria. To propose including all unclassified areas, regardless of whether they meet the EC criteria, would therefore increase the survey work to be done by my Department and would delay the submission of eligible areas to the EC Commission. Including areas that clearly do not meet the EC criteria would also undermine the case for designation of the areas that do meet those criteria.