Mr. Pat Morrison:

I will move on to the second question regarding breeding waders - geese and swans, and the hot spot maps which we would have used. The Deputy is correct that they are the maps that were available to us at that resolution. Initially, the Irish Heritage Council instigated a project to get the hot spot maps. A contract was awarded some years ago, pulling all the data together. There is a lot of data on where the sites may be and from different sources, and it was about pulling them all together and producing a hot spot map.

Those hot spot maps were provided to us at a certain resolution and we used them for the scheme.

It is important to note that for farmers with land that came under the provisions relating to breeding waders, geese and swans, it was an advantage in many instances as they were able to get tier 1 access to the general scheme. There was no action that was compulsory because they were in those areas. In respect of the geese and swans action, there was voluntary uptake. The actions in regard to breeding waders could get farmers tier 1 access and they were voluntary. However, in respect of breeding waders, as part of that SAC, we had to block certain actions that might be damaging to the nesting birds. Tree planting and hedgerow planting would have been-----