Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 30 Sep 1997

Vol. 480 No. 6

Written Answers - National Heritage Areas.

Michael Ring

Question:

415 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands the change, if any, there has been in the agreement reached last year with her Department, the IFA and local farmers that if an acre of a farmer's land was in a national heritage area, all of the land would be included and paid for; and if so, if she will give details of the new regulations. [14238/97]

Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands (Miss de Valera):

Under the existing Rural Environment Protection Scheme (REPS) administered by the Department of Agriculture and Food, an additional payment of £ 12 per acre is available to farmers who have land included in a proposed Natural Heritage Area (NHA) and, provided that the farmer has any NHA land, the additional payment is made on all of the farmer's land, up to a maximum of 100 acres. There has been no change in this position.

My Department and the Department of Agriculture and Food have had extensive negotiations with the farming organisations on the implementation in Ireland of the EU Habitats Directive, which requires member states to protect their most important natural areas by designating them as special areas of conservation SACs. It has been agreed to propose to the European Commission that REPs will provide for additional top-up payments for those with land in these SAC areas, and again, it has been agreed that these additional amounts will be payable; where a farmer has any SAC land, on all of his land up to 100 acres; and between 100 and 300 acres, top-ups will be paid on SAC land only. The amounts payable and eligibility criteria are currently the subject of discussion with the European Commission.

There is no proposal to modify this agreement. However, it appears that in a limited number of cases very small areas of SAC land are being acquired purely to avail of additional payments under REPS and mechanisms are being looked at to ensure that the system is not manipulated in this way.