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

Exactly. We could probably add a few more digits. It could be like pi and be without end. If we deem 1 hectare to be 2.471 acres, then 0.1 hectares equals 0.24 of an acre. That is not an awful lot of land for somebody to measure accurately, particularly when talking about rocks and things.

Another problem that I find annoying, and which many farmers find awful strange, is to do with farmers who have hazel, scrub and whatever. What if they decide to make the space a forage area and get a big machine to flatten the ground? The Department's birdy friends would be down on them like a shot declaring that they cannot carry out such work. What happens if somebody wants to keep the land in its natural state but the Department refuses to pay them for doing so even though it remains part of the claim?