Vol. 519 No. 2
269 Mr. Killeen asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage Gaeltacht and the Islands the reason for the ban on light summer grazing on certain Burren uplands; whether this applies to candidate special areas of conservation or national heritage areas or both; the body of research which supports that policy; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13497/00]
The rural environment protection scheme, administered by the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, requires participants to farm their lands in an environmentally friendly manner. To meet the needs of social partnership that Department, together with Dúchas, the heritage service of my Department, farming organisations represented in the social partnership, and other relevant experts met to determine appropriate environmentally friendly farming practices for the Burren.
All parties agreed that in the high Burren the objective was to maintain the traditional extensive agricultural practices of the area and to prevent a further increase in stock levels. It was also agreed that in these areas cattle should be predominantly dry stock and that the land should be grazed in winter and not in summer, i.e. grazing of stock other than feral goats should be avoided from April to October. As an exception a short period, one-week, of grazing in June to control grass growth may be agreed on a farm by farm basis. These prescriptions do not apply in the reclaimed or intensively farmed lands.
