Vol. 519 No. 4
44 Cecilia Keaveney asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development when the new REP scheme will be introduced; the likely changes from the current scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13750/00]
The rural development plan 2000-2006 which contains proposals for a new REP scheme was submitted to the European Commission in December last and the Commission have six months from then to consider it. Formal negotiations on the plan with the Commission are now well under way, though it is not possible to indicate at this stage when the Commission will be in a position to approve it. When the plan is approved, my objective is to secure the earliest implementation of each measure including REPS. The proposed new scheme is closely modelled on the existing scheme, in accordance with the recommendation in the evaluation report furnished to the Commission in July 1999.
Some increase in the basic rate of payment is proposed where smaller farms are involved. It is also hoped to secure European Commission agreement to arrangements which would allow farmers with a small area of land in an environmentally sensitive target area to secure REPS payments for those lands while not having to put their non-target lands in REPS. The objective of this proposal is to maximise the area of environmentally sensitive land farmed to the REPS specification. Some smaller changes to certain supplementary measures are also envisaged.
