asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the reason he does not allow the category of disadvantaged farmer under the less favoured areas directive as in other countries in the EC; and the conditions under which the directive makes provision for this individual classification.
Written Answers. - Less Favoured Areas Directive.
53.
Directive 75/268 as amended does not provide for the category of disadvantaged farmer as such or for the separate classification of individual farms. The position is that areas are categorised on the basis of natural handicaps and not on the basis of legal ownership.
The directive does, however, provide for the inclusion in the disadvantaged areas category of small areas with specific handicaps where farming is necessary to preserve the landscape and its tourist potential or to protect the coastline. It may happen in member states with many large landowners that some of these areas are entirely owned by one farmer but given our land-holding pattern, this coincidence would be unlikely to occur in Ireland.