Mr. Fergal Monaghan:

The points the Deputy is raising are perfectly valid. A farmer's potential to improve the score on a particular field depends on what is currently depressing his score. A quite common example in this regard is that of self-sowing conifers on peatland. Seeds from pine and spruce trees in commercial forests get blown onto adjacent peatlands and germinate. If this is happening, it results in a negative score. It would depress the farmer's score. Removing the self-sown conifers, many of which are stunted and easily cut with hand tools, and which may even be hand-pulled, would increase the score. In most of the cases I have seen, addressing something such as the removal of self-sown conifers or, perhaps, addressing an invasive-species problem, dumping or inappropriate cutting or stocking regimes would bring the score up at least one point in a single growing season.