Vol. 448 No. 5
98 Ms O'Donnell asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the plans, if any, he has to introduce measures which would alleviate the environmental problems of pollution and soil erosion caused by overgrazing by sheep; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2415/95]
In June 1994 the rural environment protection scheme, REPS, was introduced by my Department to help resolve environmental problems caused by agriculture. As part of the basic scheme farmers receive grant aid for adopting a grassland management plan which avoids: poaching, in particular poaching of wetland habitats; damage leading to soil erosion and run-off; overgrazing leading to the damage of heather or other natural vegetation.
Also there is a supplementary aid measure to the basic scheme to assist farmers in areas designated by my Department as degraded as a result of overgrazing by livestock. Farmers participating in REPS in these areas must take further measures such as the removal of all sheep from these areas from November to April each year to help to rehabilitate the natural vegetation. In addition, farmers in these degraded areas who do not participate in REPS and who wish to obtain an additional sheep quota must undertake not to graze the additional sheep on the degraded areas during the above period.
My officials will be reviewing the operation of the REPS and the other measures to ensure their effectiveness, and this review will, in particular, look at the degree to which these measures are contributing to dealing with the overgrazing problem.
