Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)

I have been asked by the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Deputy Smith, to clarify the position regarding payments to farmers in County Kerry under the rural environment protection scheme, REPS. I thank Deputy Tom Sheahan for raising this matter on the Adjournment.

As the Deputy is no doubt aware, REPS is an agri-environment measure under the rural development programme 2007 to 2013. It is designed to encourage farmers to go beyond basic good farming practice and to farm in a way that benefits the landscape, biodiversity and water quality. Every member state must have an agri-environment measure and REPS is co-funded by the EU at the rate of 55%. The scheme has proven to be very popular with Irish farmers and confirms their commitment to farming to the highest environmental standards. This commitment fits very comfortably with the vision of smart green growth as set out in the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food's Food Harvest 2020 strategy statement. It is worth noting that, at its height, the scheme included some 60,000 farmers. This represents approximately half the active farmers in the country.

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