Dr. Brendan Dunford:

I will answer some of the questions and Mr. Davoren and Dr. Moran will address others. The Deputy is correct that the Burren is unique but I must stress this is still about farmers, land and livestock, which is the same theme as applies in Wicklow and Kildare. I do not want the Deputy to think that because the Burren is unique that this programme is unique. The principles of the programme are not unique; they are about seeing farmers not as a threat to the environment but as a huge resource to protect it. It is about squeezing them as much as we can to get as much value out of them as we can in protecting the environment. This is why the principles under which we operate apply elsewhere in spite of the uniqueness of the Burren.

Cattle are not left on the Burren over winter. We impose very few rules on farmers. We tell them if they have 20 acres of land there they can do what they want once it is within the law. They can choose to graze cattle on it over the winter in which case it will look better, it will be better environmentally and farmers will earn more money from it. However they may choose to keep their cattle in a house for the winter, in which case their score will reduce because they are doing less work environmentally and they will receive less money for it. We are not at all prescriptive about what farmers do with the land. We offer guidelines on how to get the most out of the land but farmers are not obliged to follow these guidelines. It is very much at the farmers' discretion as to how they farm the land.

The question on the cost of silage versus the ration is very interesting and Dr. Moran will deal with the specifics, but it is better with regard to health, cost and efficiency. Dr. Moran developed the concentrated ration and he will tell us about the relative cost. An important point to make is that it is very low.

A former colleague of ours, Ruairí Ó Conchúir, led the development and management of Burren Beef & Lamb Producers Group but the difficulties of bringing the products to market and recovering money made it more energy dependent than it was worth. It is not operating or trading at present. It traded successfully for two or three years in the sense that customers were very happy because, of course, Burren beef and lamb is the best one will get anywhere. However, much effort was involved for a small amount of payback. The 8% mark-up on the product was not worth it in the long run. It sounds like a great idea but it requires a huge amount of effort.

We have had nothing but support from environmental groups. The Burrenbeo Trust is a very strong local NGO in which I am involved. It is a huge supporter of the farming for conservation project over the years as have been all of the relevant environmental groups including Birdwatch Ireland at whose events we have spoken, and An Taisce whose membership includes some farmers on our programme. We have nothing but positive feedback from the environmental groups, which is very important. As we see it, the most important group from which to receive positive feedback is farmers and as I stated, we have approximately 95% approval from them.

Mr. Davoren will speak about winterage and the impact of feeding, which is a fundamentally important point. The change in feeding systems has transformed the Burren in the past 15 years, as it had done in the previous 15 years. At present we are in a very positive position.

With regard to the opinion of the EU taxpayer on the importance of this programme, it is an easy sell. The general public loves places such as the Burren, Wicklow and Connemara because they can interact with them and they have birds, wildlife and a feelgood factor. People love the notion of paying a farmer to deliver this because it is something they want. Research proves a good healthy Irish environment is in demand. We have various tours, projects and diaspora projects. Many tourists speak about the Irish people and the landscape. We must remember the Irish landscape is farmed, and if we want to continue to attract tourists and have a good recreational landscape providing good water quality and living conditions we can only do so through the right type of farming. The taxpayer as represented by the EU Commission loves the notion of a programme such as this and paying to protect places such as the Burren and the Irish landscape. This is a very important point and we tick this box from the Commission's point of view.