Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 4 Dec 1996

Vol. 472 No. 4

Written Answers. - Disadvantaged Areas Appeals Panel.

Brian Cowen

Ceist:

151 Mr. Cowen asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the reason two areas (details supplied) in County Offaly were not included in the review of the disadvantaged areas scheme in view of the fact that all adjacent areas were included; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23472/96]

Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry (Mr. Yates)

Following an examination by the Disadvantaged Areas Appeals Panel, a proposal consisting of almost 1 million acres of land was proposed to the EU Commission for reclassification as more severely handicapped. The Commission approved this proposal in its entirety, and I announced the details in October 1995. The criteria by which areas were selected for reclassification included the following: Income not greater than 60 per cent of national average income, land quality not greater than 4 on a scale of 0 to 9.

The townlands of The Walk and Ballincur, in the District Electoral Division of Kinnitty, were among those considered by the appeals panel. While some townlands in Kinnitty satisfied the criteria and were included in the proposal for reclassification, The Walk and Ballincur both exceeded the land quality limit. The inclusion of these townlands would have caused the group of townlands in this area to exceed the land quality limit, and consequently they had to be omitted in order to ensure that the other townlands satisfied all the criteria and would be acceptable to the EU Commission.