Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 29 Jun 1993

Vol. 433 No. 1

Written Answers. - Set-Aside Land Use.

Proinsias De Rossa

Question:

69 Proinsias De Rossa asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry if he will request the EC to consider less wasteful alternatives to the present set-aside scheme by means such as promoting the transfer of land to non-food products, such as wood or coppice crops rather than having the land taken out of production; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry (Mr. J. Walsh)

There is provision under EC Regulations for the use of land set-aside under the Common Agricultural Policy reform regime to produce raw materials for non-food industrial uses, subject to the observance of certain control requirements.

The list of raw materials which can be grown and their permissible end uses are contained in Commission Regulation No. 334/93. This Regulation also lays down the control requirements which require,inter alia, contractual arrangements between producers and end users.

One of the permitted uses is production of short rotation forest trees having a maximum cultivation period of 10 years. The specific rules for this type of use, which clearly would only be practical in the context of permanent rather than rotational set-aside, have yet to be finalised by the EC Commission.