Denis Foley
Ceist:56 Mr. Foley asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry if he will seek the reclassification of land from severely to more severely disadvantaged within County Kerry. [6344/97]
Written Answers. - Disadvantaged Areas Scheme.
A submission to establish a new category of extremely disadvantaged areas in Ireland was formally presented to the Commission on 9 October 1996. The criteria established to facilitate selection of areas for reclassification as extremely disadvantaged were as follows: the areas must have already been designated more severely handicapped, and should not extend beyond the boundary of the original MSH designation of 1975; there must be a high proportion of "rough grazing" land in the areas; the areas must be subject to extreme climatic conditions; to ensure homogeneity of physical characteristics and farming types, areas must be at least 20,000 hectares in extent.
All potential areas were considered in light of the above criteria when the submission was being prepared. While it would not be appropriate to identify specific areas in advance of approval by the EU Commission, I confirm that areas of County Kerry which satisfied the above criteria were included in the submission.