asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if he will propose the inclusion of the less severely handicapped areas in the fully disadvantaged areas, in order that they obtain the increased benefits in 1989; and, if not, the reason.
42.
Written Answers. - Disadvantaged Areas.
40.
asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if he will seek to have the criteria for reclassification of disadvantaged areas put on the agenda for a meeting of the Council of Ministers to ensure that as large an area as possible is considered for inclusion under the present review.
I propose to answer Questions Nos. 40 and 42 together.
The reclassification of all Ireland's less severely handicapped areas to more severely handicapped areas status was proposed to the EC Commission by my predecessor but was turned down by the Commission because of the lack of evidence to justify such a radical reclassification. If the survey now being carried out shows that any less severely handicapped areas are suitable for reclassification as more severely handicapped, however, I shall be pleased to propose such reclassification to the EC Commission and seek approval for it. As for the question of putting the criteria for reclassification on the agenda of the Council of Ministers, it would be entirely premature to consider such a step before the results of the survey were known.
41.
asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the officials carrying out inspections for the classification of disadvantaged areas are calling to many of the larger farmers in the District Electoral Division areas of Counties Meath and Westmeath rather than the smaller ones; if this will result in a very unfair sample of the situation in many of the areas; and the action he will take to have this situation rectified in order to give an opportunity to have more of Ireland reclassified.
50.
asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if he will arrange for farmers surveyed under the first stage of the disadvantaged areas review to get a copy of the document they sign at the end of the survey.
55.
asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if his attention has been drawn to the concern being expressed by farmers in the areas of Meath and Westmeath currently being reviewed for inclusion in the disadvantaged areas scheme at the method of selecting farmers for survey; and if he will give an assurance that those surveyed will be representative of all the farmers in each district electoral division under review.
56.
asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food when the inspection of areas for inclusion in the severely handicapped scheme will be completed; the reason all farmers in these areas are not inspected instead of the present haphazard way in which the inspectors only call to a few farmers in each area, most often to those farmers with large farms.
I propose to answer Questions Nos. 41, 50, 55 and 56 together.
Time and manpower constraints mean only 50 per cent of the farms in each townland surveyed can be visited and also preclude us from giving the farmers visited copies of the survey forms they sign. I can assure all Deputies that the farms visited are representative of the townlands surveyed. The first, third, fifth and so on herdowner listed in my Department's list of herdowners as having an address in each townland being surveyed is visited so that the sample of farms will be completely random and truly representative to satisfy EC requirements. This could mean that more big farms are visited in townlands where most farms are big and more small farms are visited in townlands where most farms are small.
It is hoped that the survey will be completed in October 1989 and that the list of areas deemed suitable for reclassification or designation as disadvantaged for the first time will be submitted to the EC Commission for approval before the end of this year.