asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if he has received approval from the EC Commission to make a fresh application for the extension of the disadvantaged areas and the inclusion of new areas.
36.
Written Answers. - Restructuring of Disadvantaged Areas.
18.
asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food when he anticipates the processing and assessing of applications from farmers in the Nagle mountain area, consisting of 19 groups of farmers in the Cork area, for the extension of the disadvantaged areas in this region; the reason this process has been delayed for so long; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
46.
asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food whether the field work in connection with the review of boundaries of the disadvantaged areas has yet commenced; if so, the date of commencement and the expected date of completion; if not, the reason for the delay; and when it can be expected that the said work will commence.
50.
asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if, in view of the extra EC finance now available through the Regional Fund he will take the necessary steps to extend the severely handicapped area to all of County Kerry.
51.
asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the present status of Ireland's application to have the severely handicapped areas extended; his views on the application; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 18, 36, 46, 50 and 51 together.
A proposal to reclassify all existing less severely handicapped and mountain sheep areas to more severely handicapped status was made to the EC Commission on 4 February 1987. Their reply indicated that the proposed across the board change did not meet the requirement in the basic EC Directive that the level of compensatory allowances (headage payments) should be fixed in accordance with the degree of severity of the permanent natural handicaps. This ruled out the payment of uniform rates of headage grants throughout all our disadvantaged areas and so the proposal was not acceptable to the Commission.
In the light of that reply for the Commission, the Government subsequently approved a modification of the original proposal to provide for a restructuring of the disadvantaged areas scheme in a manner that should meet the objections that had been raised. The new proposal was lodged with the Commission on 4 November last. It includes a case for improved FEOGA financing of the disadvantaged areas scheme as operated here and in addition deals with the question of extending the boundaries. The improved financing arrangement sought would enable the proposed revisions to the schemes to be financed without any additional burden on the Exchequer and it is therefore a key element of the restructuring proposals put to the Commission.
A reply to our proposal was received from the EC Commission on 9 February which indicated that, while they had a positive orientation on the revised proposals, they were concerned about a number of aspects of headage schemes as operated in this country. In addition, they stated that they had no immediate plans to propose a higher rate of reimbursement from FEOGA for headage payments in Ireland.
Since then, the overall position as regards the Community's financial participation in schemes of this kind has changed because of the February European Council decision on the structural funds. As a result of this decision, the level of the funds will be doubled between 1987 and 1993 and the rate of reimbursement for Community schemes concerned with promoting the development and structural adjustment of less developed regions could increase significantly in the least prosperous regions. In its response to the Commission's letter of 9 February, therefore, my Department requested the EC Commission to take account of the European Council decision and to reconsider our proposal for a higher rate of reimbursement for the disadvantaged areas headage schemes.
The restructuring of the disadvantaged areas, including the question of extending the boundaries, thus forms part of a wider national approach by the Government in regard to structural policy in general, which aims to secure significant further developments in this area over the next few years.