Vol. 467 No. 1
162 Mr. O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht if his attention has been drawn to a proposal to introduce a scheme to depopulate sheep flocks in the context of the designation of national heritage areas; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12618/96]
The position in relation to this matter is that sheep farmers who wish to enter the rural environment protection scheme (REPS), which is administered by the Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry, receive payments for farming in an environmentally friendly manner. Farmers with land in the proposed natural heritage areas (NHAs) receive an additional payment (approximately 20 per cent on top of the basic premium) for farming in such a manner as to assist the conservation of the proposed NHAs.
As the payments are made for environmentally friendly farming, farmers with land in proposed NHAs that are overgrazed will be required to reduce their flock size. This is necessary in order to ensure compliance with the REPS conditions and to satisfy the EU Commission.
An ad-hoc committee, consisting of representatives of the National Parks and Wildlife Service of my Department, the Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry, Teagasc, the IFA, the ICMSA and conservation organisations has been established to examine the question of overgrazing and to recommend stocking densities.
