Eugene Murphy
Question:30. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his plans to reintroduce a national land drainage scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31056/18]
View answerThursday, 12 July 2018
Questions (30)
Written answers
I wish to acknowledge weather conditions over the winter were challenging and this has created difficulties for farmers. However, the budget for the Targeted Agriculture Modernisation scheme (TAMS) is fully committed under our Rural Development Programme. Support for land drainage is not included as an eligible item in the current Rural Development Programme for 2014 -2020.
It must also be recognised that any such measure would require full compliance with environmental requirements including the need for a full Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) for the entirety of Ireland and Appropriate Assessments for all potentially affected Natura Areas. Environmental requirements in any potential measure would be significant as would the challenge of securing European Commission approval.
At present, the Office of Public Works Minor Flood Scheme have a Mitigation Works and Coastal Protection funding scheme which is in place since 2009, specifically aimed at addressing the issue of minor flood protection interventions. A review of the scheme was conducted in 2017 and a number of improvements to the scheme were announced. Amongst these are the provisions that farm yards/buildings are included as commercial premises in all categories for the first time. The upper financial threshold was also increased significantly from €500,000 to €750,000 per project. More details of the scheme are available from the offices of the OPW.