Vol. 468 No. 1
212 Mr. B. Ahern asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the Irish position on the reduction of compulsory set-aside; and the amount and proportion of arable land in Ireland currently subject to set-aside. [14598/96]
The EU Commission has proposed a compulsory set-aside rate of 5 per cent for the 1997 harvest as against 10 per cent this year. I fully support this reduction in view of the current tight supply situation for cereals on the EU and world markets.
The area set-aside in Ireland in 1995 was 32,882 hectares representing 11 per cent of the land for which area payments were claimed under the EU support system for arable crops. This year it is estimated that 21,000 hectares have been set-aside.
