Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the officials for coming in today and presenting, and for their time and patience as well. We certainly are having a long, but valuable and worthwhile, meeting.

As the officials will have heard from the presentations from the IFDL, farmers are genuinely affected. They have been very badly served by how this has worked out and the demands that have been placed on them by Europe in the designation of their land, which they did not seek, as SPA land.

I seek clarification from the officials on the Department's perspective on the commitments it gave to farmers at the time of the designation. Certainly, it has been clearly laid out to us here today that at the time farmers were promised that they would not be any worse off and that there would be a scheme put in place which would ensure that they were compensated for the restrictions that were placed on their land, and indeed, for the devaluation of their land. That has not come to pass in any way. Ninety per cent of farmers did not qualify for the initial scheme. In the most recent locally-led scheme, 1,000 farmers out of 4,000 qualified. I would like the Department's perspective on why the previous scheme was so restrictive and there is not more of an uptake in the locally-led scheme now as well considering that 4,000 farmers are affected.

The point has been clearly made by the IFDL representatives and by committee members that GLAS, which has a hen harrier aspect to it, is available to non-SPA designated farmers and to farms which do not have any interaction with hen harriers. That does not fulfil the commitments that were made at the time. It does not in any way address the overall difficulty in terms of the impact on the value of the land. That is something which remains to be dealt with and which these farmers have experienced and have no control over, and they are left in an unenviable position as a result.

In relation to the issue of afforestation and the quota that was outlined at the start, and the fact that is no longer allowed, can that be revisited because I believe there is evidence that different forestry at different stages of development can assist and can be land on which the hen harrier can do well?

I ask the Department officials to update us on the success levels to date in the protection or development of the hen harrier. I note there are 120 breeding pairs in the country. Is this working? Given the designations in place, is there an improvement in that regard? That would be interesting to hear.

I return to the main point here today. This came out of the blue to these genuine farmers, who have always farmed this land and whose families have farmed it for many years before them. It is affecting them on a daily basis. It has affected their ability to make their livelihoods.

From a departmental point of view, I ask Mr. Hayes to address my questions. In terms of going forward within CAP, the budget and the continuation of the SPA designation put in place by Europe, can we ensure that harm that has been done to these farmers' livelihoods can be properly addressed?