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Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 4 Oct 2001

Vol. 541 No. 3

Written Answers. - Compensatory Allowance Scheme.

Michael Creed

Question:

86 Mr. Creed asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development the status of the district electoral division of Aultagh, County Cork; and the reason he has classified lands in Aultagh as mountain land in the context of the 2001 area aid payment. [22558/01]

Michael Creed

Question:

88 Mr. Creed asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development the way in which the area aid unit of his Department has classified lands as either low land or mountain in respect of area aid payments; and the way in which the unit classified a district electoral division (details supplied) as being land or mountain. [22560/01]

I propose to take Questions Nos. 86 and 88 together.

The position is that the new area based compensatory allowance scheme agreed in July 2000 and approved by the European Commission in the context of the CAP rural development plan provides for area related payments as follows: more severely handicapped (lowland), £70 per hectare up to 45 hectares; less severely handicapped (lowland), £60 per hectare up to 45 hectares; mountain type land, £45 per hectare up to 60 hectares.

Where a farmer farms a combination of land categories he will be paid on lowland – more severely handicapped – first, lowland – less severely handicapped – next the mountain grazings last. If a farmer only has lowland – more severely handicapped – and/or lowland – less severely handicapped – his overall limit is 45 hectares. If he has a combination of lowland – more severely handicappe – and/or lowland – less severely handicapped – and some mountain type land, he will be paid on up to 45 hectares lowland and up to an extra 15 hectares of mountain subject to an overall limit of 60 hectares. If a farmer only has mountain type land his overall limit is 60 hectares.

Payments under the new scheme commenced on Friday, 21 September, as agreed in the Protocol on direct payments to farmers and to date some £145 million has been paid to some 84,757 farmers representing over 85% of total applicants. This compares very favourably with the figure of just over £59 million which was paid to farmers at this time last year under the old animal based headage schemes.

In so far as the classification of land is concerned the position is that when the disadvantaged areas' compensatory allowance schemes were first introduced in Ireland in 1975 the disadvantaged status of all land in the country had to be determined. In general land was classified as non-disadvantaged, less severely handicapped and more severely handicapped. A number of reviews of disadvantaged areas have since been carried out most recently in 1996. When the sheep headage element of the disadvantaged areas compensatory allowance schemes was being introduced it was decided that certain sheep farmers who had mountain breeding ewes which were substantially maintained on mountain type grazings should be paid headage grants on such ewes. Mountain breeding ewes were defined as Blackface Mountain (horny) and Cheviot, and first crosses between or on these breeds. No sheep headage grants were payable to farmers who maintained other breeding ewes. All applicants for grants under the various headage schemes were subject to an on-farm inspection. In the case of applicants with mountain type breeding ewes the inspecting officer from my Department certified (a) that the sheep were of the correct breed and (b) that they were being substantially maintained on mountain type grazings. When the land parcel identification system was introduced in 1996 it became necessary to identify all land areas which were traditionally treated as mountain type grazings for sheep headage purposes in order that sheep headage grants could continue to be paid to those farmers who maintained mountain breeding ewes. In designating such areas on the land parcel identification system regard had to be had to certain natural boundaries such as rivers and roads and it was not possible to exclude certain farms where sheep production did not take place. However, the designation of mountain type grazing suited most farmers especially those engaged in sheep production allowing them to be paid headage grants on mountain breeding ewes.
I am conscious of the difficulty which this mountain classification causes under the new area based compensatory allowance scheme and I am currently reviewing the scheme with a view to finding the most equitable arrangements with particular reference to farmers with mountain type land.
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