asked the Minister for Agriculture if the status of Connemara and Mayo will be changed from severely handicapped to mountainous area; and if he will make the change of status part of his EC price-fixing negotiations.
Written Answers. - Agricultural Reclassification of Connemara and Mayo.
192.
Under present EC arrangements, the primary benefit that would arise from reclassifying a less favoured area as a mountain area would be that larger dairy farmers could be paid headage grants on all their dairy cows, rather than on only part of their herd. There are very few of these larger herds in more severely handicapped areas like Connemara and Mayo.
Another benefit of reclassification would be to remove the milk co-responsibility levy which is paid at the reduced rate by farmers in less favoured areas. The burden of this levy is, however, offset for all the smaller dairy farms by the scheme of aid for small scale milk producers. Thus, here again, the benefit of reclassifying Connemara and Mayo would accrue to large dairy farmers and not small farmers.
It is Government policy to concentrate any additional resources for farm development in the disadvantaged areas on the smaller and medium sized farms and to this end the headage payment on beef cows is being raised from £32 to £70. This will have a far greater effect on the incomes of farmers in Connemara and Mayo than reclassifying the area.