Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Was there not another issue? When rocks were being taken out of land parcels on the basis of aerial maps, I dealt with a case in which half of a 1,000-acre hill was taken out. I am not sure what that is in hectares, but it was reduced by half. When the farmers in question appealed that decision, the ground was walked again. It was decided that a great deal of grass was growing between the rocks, which is true, and a good two thirds of the half that had been taken out was restored. Farmers were hedging their bets against this because they had no way of calculating how much rock was in the mountain. It is hard to tell when one looks up at the top of a mountain. They were hedging their bets right from the beginning because they were trying to out-think what the Department might do. That approach was well-founded because the Department did what I have mentioned.