Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. The Shannon callows is designated as a special protection area, SPA, for birds under the EU birds directive. The SPA has an area of some 6,000 hectares running through five counties. In former times the corncrake was widespread in Ireland. However, over several decades, a combination of the intensification of farming practices and, in particular, the change from hay-making to silage-cutting, have resulted in the species being left only in the coastal areas of the north and west, and in the more extensively farmed floodplain, or callows, area along the Shannon.

However, in the callows, the number of corncrakes has declined greatly over the past 20 years. A prescription for corncrake-friendly farming was drafted using best current practice. This involves late cutting of the meadow and cutting from the inside of the field outward to allow the young to escape.

Up to and including 2006, payments to farmers for corncrake-friendly farming in the callows and other areas have mainly been made under a voluntary scheme referred to as the corncrake grant scheme, operated by BirdWatch Ireland with funding from my Department. Last year, landowners in the callows received €102,000 for some 20 pairs of nesting corncrakes, which is expensive nesting. Farmers have also been paid under REPS.

In May of this year, the callows flooded and many of the remaining corncrakes were driven off their nests. Because this threatens the total loss of the Shannon callows corncrakes, my Department is funding BirdWatch Ireland to offer payments at especially high levels to farmers who voluntarily undertake late cutting in September. The money offered under the corncrake grant scheme is the highest ever. I hope this will encourage farmers to provide the necessary habitat for the corncrakes to successfully raise this year's young.

In the future, compensation will be paid to an individual land owner for actual costs or farming losses incurred, either through the rural environment protection scheme, REPS, as administered by the Department of Agriculture and Food or via the farm plan scheme of my Department. The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government's farm plan scheme was launched in February last following agreement with the farming organisations. However, it has not been possible to agree terms for the corncrake prescriptions for the Shannon callows, despite numerous meetings that have taken place between officials from my Department, officials from the Department of Agriculture and Food and farming representatives over recent years.

I regret that it has not yet proved possible to resolve this matter. My Department is maintaining contact with the farming representatives to see how agreement might be reached in the context of the new farm plan scheme.

See this speech in context