Seán Kyne
Question:334. Deputy Seán Kyne asked the Minister for Arts; Heritage and the Gaeltacht his plans for a complex (details supplied) in County Galway in terms of restocking and compensation measures in 2013. [41987/12]
View answerTuesday, 2 October 2012
Questions (334)
Written answers
My Department, in association with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, has recently undertaken a review of all commonage framework plans. The review will provide the basis for the sustainable grazing of commonages, to avoid both overgrazing and under-grazing. It is envisaged that farmers will be allocated a minimum and maximum stocking level for each commonage townland by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. Farmers will be able to farm freely once these stocking levels are observed and the land is maintained in good agricultural and environmental condition.
The carrying capacity of all commonages will be expressed at Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS) level and will prescribe the sustainable carrying capacity in ewe equivalents per hectare. This will reflect any known recovery delivered since the original commonage plans were prepared.
Specifically in relation to Co Galway, 25 farmers in the complex referred to by the Deputy are participants in the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) farm plan scheme, which is managed by my Department. Compensation for each destocked ewe (below the polluter pays level of 5 ewes/ha over the whole farm) is €39.75. Off-wintered ewes receive €50 per annum. In addition, my Department covered the cost of preparing the NPWS farm plan. Due to budgetary constraints, my Department's NPWS farm plan scheme was closed to new applicants in April 2010.
In the complex in question, my Department is also making top-up payments to REPS and AEOS farmers for these additional restrictions. These farmers were required to amend their existing plans to reflect additional grazing requirements. For the five years of the scheme, REPS/AEOS farmers are paid €2,000 by my Department for each year in which they have fully met the destocking and off-wintering provisions of their plans (which will run until the end of 2013). Application forms for the Year 4 top-up payments will be distributed to farmers in the coming weeks.
In September 2011, I announced an additional compensation measure for out-of-contract REPS farmers in the complex referred to by the Deputy whose plans were completed after the closing date for applications to AEOS 2. These payments of up to €4,000 per farmer ran until the 15th May 2012. It is anticipated that out-of-contract farmers in this area will be accepted into the AEOS 3 Scheme announced last week by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine.