Vol. 465 No. 8
107 Mr. B. Smith asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the progress, if any, that has been made to date in finalising the criteria for designation of an area as very severely disadvantaged; whether proposals have been submitted to the European Commission; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10700/96]
The criteria by which areas will be selected for reclassification as extremely disadvantaged have now been finalised, and work is progressing on the selection of areas which satisfy these criteria.
When completed, a formal proposal will be transmitted to the EU Commission. It is my intention to have this proposal accepted and in place to allow payments in the extremely severely handicapped areas under the 1997 headage schemes.
