Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 12 Jul 1990

Vol. 401 No. 6

Written Answers. - Land Improvement.

John Connor

Question:

125 Mr. Connor asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the reason his Department no longer assists in the stimulation of agricultural development in less favoured or disadvantaged areas by operating EC grant schemes for (1) renewal of existing field drainage (2) pasture improvement and (3) restoration of land, excluding heathland and moorland, as applies in Northern Ireland; if his Department plans to bring the grant schemes, operative in the Republic of Ireland, into line with the level of operation of such schemes in Northern Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

John Connor

Question:

127 Mr. Connor asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if he will make a statement on the suspension of the dry land reclamation scheme together with its ancillary drainage element by his Department; and the reason for the discontinuation of this programme having regard to his reply to Parliamentary Question No. 9 of 17 May 1990.

Minister for Agriculture and Food (Mr. O'Kennedy)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 125 and 127 together.

Land improvement including ancillary drainage in disadvantaged areas is grant-aided under the western package. The western package which commenced in 1981 terminates in 1991. In 1988, I negotiated a revision of the package to include,inter alia, grants for animal housing and pollution control. These grants and other features of the package will be continued in other forms after the package's termination.

I understand that the Northern Ireland measures referred to by the Deputy form part of an equivalent ten-year programme for agricultural development in Northern Ireland.

As indicated in replies to other recent parliamentary questions, it has been necessary, as part of the arrangements for phasing out the western package, to suspend the processing of further applications for land improvement so that the extent of existing commitments can be established; if it emerges that these commitments do not exhaust the EC funds available for this purpose the processing of applications can be resumed until those funds are exhausted. In any event, aid for land improvement will continue to be available in all areas under the Farm Improvement Programme.

The priorities in the area of agricultural structural measures for the period 1989 to 1993 were agreed between the Government and the EC Commission during the negotiations last year on the Community Support Framework for Ireland. The Community Support Framework does not provide for the introduction of a second western package although, as already indicated, some of the measures included in the package will be continued in other forms.