Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There is a tolerance and that has been made clear to farmers. If one is required to have a low stocking rate, because of an environmental plan which one is required to adopt, whether a common framework plan, an AEOS plan, a REPS plan or otherwise, that takes precedence over the new criteria we set out last year for qualification. There is no lower limit on that. Whatever the commonage framework plan requires a farmer to abide by, in terms of stocking density, that takes precedence and it is taken into account in the derogation.

My understanding is that all of the farmers who were written to and who qualify for a derogation automatically, because they were in a commonage framework programme which required them to have a very low stocking rate, were dealt with quickly because there was no issue with them. If there are particular cases where farmers have been treated unfairly and do not qualify for the derogation under the qualification criteria, we have an appeals system which is independently chaired by somebody from the Deputy's part of the country. I expect that appeals system to be fair and to ensure the kind of case he outlined can be taken into account.

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