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

I hope the public meetings will involve workshop-type sessions, rather than a group of people lecturing from the stage. The idea underpinning the commonage areas implementation group is that a group of experienced people, who are farmer-friendly, speak a language everybody understands and have an appreciation of commonage farming, will sit down and work out with farmers what they need to do to qualify for basic payments. It is very straightforward. The only thing a farmer will be required to do to get a single farm payment is have a minimum stocking rate of one ewe per 1.5 hectares. Essentially, he or she will need to have one sheep for each area of between three and a half and four acres. Obviously, we discussed this very low stocking rate with the farming organisations before we settled on it. We have to be credible with the Commission. There needs to be some level of proof that there is farming activity going on in the hills. The obvious way to do that is to focus on stocking levels. The only thing a farmer has to do to qualify for a single farm payment is have a stocking rate of one ewe per 1.5 hectares by the end of next year. If one has not been doing much farming over recent years, or if one has a very low stocking rate, one should be fine as long as one builds up a basic stocking rate before the end of next year. If one is farming in an area where a lower stocking rate is required because of environmental restrictions, that is fine. One automatically qualifies as long as one has some level of stocking. There seems to have been a great deal of confusion about how farmers with commonage can qualify for a single farm payment. I want to clarify that it is very easy for them to qualify. They just need to have some level of activity in the commonage land. We are measuring that by providing for a very low stocking rate threshold.

GLAS is a bit different. Commonage farmers will get priority access and acceptance into GLAS. As I said in response to an earlier question, if GLAS is to be credible, farmers have to do something else, other than qualifying for a single farm payment, to get €5,000. Essentially, they have to agree to farm in accordance with a GLAS commonage plan.

At least 50% of the active farmers in that commonage area or the farmers who own 50% of the area of the commonage have to be doing that. If, for whatever reason, farmers who want to apply to GLAS cannot get 50% of the active farmers in the commonage area to be part of it, they can work through the implementation group which will help them to do it. This is a practical response to the concerns that have been expressed in recent months.

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