Vol. 481 No. 1
113 Mr. Connaughton asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if his attention has been drawn to the problems regarding the non-inclusion of farmers who have small portions of land holdings in areas designated as special areas of conservation in spite of earlier guarantees that such farmers would qualify for special areas of conservation status payments on their entire holdings up to a maximum of 100 acres. [15442/97]
My Department's proposals to the European Commission in relation to payments to farmers with lands designated as special areas of conservation (SACs) provide for payments on the holding, including cases where the SAC forms only part of the holding.
I should point out that, in the context of these proposals, the terms and conditions of the scheme will have strict provisions to exclude payments to any applicants who acquired small areas of land within SACs since their designation with a view to topping up their payments.
