Mr. Aidan O'Driscoll:

The Deputy will be aware that we issued a land eligibility booklet to all 130,000 farmers a few months ago. The issue he is raising was directly addressed in the booklet. He is right in what he says about the provision; that is to say we should not penalise farmers who undertake things in special areas of conservation in accordance with the requirement of the National Parks and Wildlife Service which, in turn, are informed by EU law on special areas of conservation.