Mr. Paud Evans:

Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív mentioned greening in the context of EFAs and paying for scrub land under the BPS. One of the things I can say about greening, having been very much involved in the past 18 months, is that in arable country there is greater emphasis on hedgerows than ever before such that it has a positive impact.

The Deputy mentioned EFAs which in general are very restricted. One can have land being used for the production of protein crops, cash crops, short-rotation coppice and forestry which has been eligible since 2008. Apart from coppices - a group of trees on less than 0.3 of a hectare and which must be situated on or adjacent to an arable parcel, hedgerows, drains and buffer strips - there are no other ineligible areas that can be counted in the case of greening. It is a very restricted provision that is very clear on the different types of area or landscape feature that can be included. Unfortunately, there is no further scope for us.