Vol. 477 No. 1
230 Mr. B. Smith asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry if the criteria for designation as a very severely disadvantaged area have been finalised; whether proposals have been submitted to the European Commission; the parts of County Cavan which will receive such designation; when the new designation will come into effect; the funding, if any, provided in 1997 to enable such designation take place; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8608/97]
A submission to establish a new category of extremely disadvantaged areas in Ireland was formally presented to the EU Commission on 9 October 1996.
The criteria established to facilitate selection of areas for reclassification as extremely disadvantaged were; the areas must be already designated more severly handicapped, and should not extend beyond the boundary of the original MSH designation of 1975; there must be a high proportion of rough grazing land in the areas; the areas must be subject to extreme climatic conditions; to ensure homogeneity of physical characteristics and farming types, areas must be at least 20,000 hectares in extent.
All potential areas were considered in light of the above criteria when the submission was being prepared.
The EU Commission is carrying out a technical examination of the submission, involving discussions with my Department. Until this process has been completed, it is not possible to say for certain which areas will be approved for reclassification as extremely disadvantaged. It would not, therefore, be appropriate to comment on the inclusion or otherwise of specific areas in the submission prior to final approval being received from the Commission.
I expect that a decision on the extremely disadvantaged areas will be forthcoming in 1997. Since the proposal envisages additional payments to farmers in the new areas, the implementation of the measures will not involve a separate application from farmers but rather a top-up on the normal application in respect of the relevant schemes. I have ensured that funding will be available for this scheme within the overall Structural Funds allocation.
