Vol. 468 No. 4
877 Mr. Aylward asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry if he intends to accept a submission to have the disadvantaged area of Tory Hill, Chapel Hill and Brandon Hill in south Kilkenny reclassified to the severely disadvantaged category; and his views on whether an anomaly currently exists in view of his recent announcement. [15638/96]
In October 1995, I announced that the EU Commission had approved the reclassification of almost one million acres of land to more severely handicapped status. The south Kilkenny area formed what is known as a non-contiguous area, in that it does not join the existing more severely handicapped boundary. In order to qualify for reclassification, an area of at least 15,000 hectares would have to satisfy the criteria of land quality and income, and would have to form a homogeneous and logical block of land. At the time of the original proposal, the appeals panel did not feel that the area appealed could be justified to the Commission and it was excluded from their recommendations.
Following representations from the south Kilkenny area, I agreed to have the status of the area re-examined. On completion of this examination, a proposal was sent to the EU Commission in respect of certain townlands in the area. I am pleased to be able to inform the Deputy that, at a meeting of the Agriculture Structures and Rural Development (STAR) Committee in Brussels yesterday (25 July), this proposal was accepted. The areas which are now reclassified as more severely handicapped include Brandonhill which is in two District Electoral Divisions, Coolhill and Freaghanna. There are no townlands called Tory Hill or Chapel Hill in this area so I cannot say if these areas are included.
