Mr. Jason Fitzgerald:

To work out the payment, if one gets six out of ten he or she multiplies by 0.6, and if one gets ten out of ten he or she multiplies by one. I am disappointed by the fact that not enough money is going into the farmers' pockets. A total of 8% of the money, that is, approximately €2 million, plus other money, will go into actions. Farmers have to spend a certain amount of money to qualify for those actions. They have to go out and plant wild bird cover and buy fencing. There are also other aspects to it. From the hen harrier project's point of view, what it is doing is right. I believe that it is right and that the project will make a difference for the hen harrier in these areas. Unfortunately, it is trying to fill a gap that is too big to fill with the amount of money it has. That is the problem. It is doing the best it can but unfortunately, the amount of money it has to distribute is just far too low. It is a new scheme, a European innovation scheme. As it is a results-based scheme, the project must show results to be continued. We are looking for something completely different. Were the Department to put in place a proper scheme with a proper level of funding and were this money to be placed on top of that for those people who really want to enhance the habitat even further, that would be welcome.

It was asked whether €370 per hectare is adequate compensation. It is nowhere near enough when there is nothing else available. I mentioned earlier that it was okay when forestry was available. It would be okay if this agreement was held up and the National Parks and Wildlife Service picked it up. However, it is nowhere near what it needs to be. It needs to be equivalent to forestry in every way if people are to chose this path over forestry. A person with 100 ha of land over a five-year period has €250,000 in forestry premiums. The combined payments in this regard add up to a fraction of that. I am not in a position to answer the question of why Coillte is able to get these grants. All I can say is that farmers are refused point blank. Companies investing in these areas will have nothing to do with them.