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

In the first instance, farmers with hen harrier land already have priority access to the green low carbon agri-environment scheme, GLAS. I also provided that such farmers would be automatically approved for GLAS plus should they be farming a sufficient area of habitat. I strongly encourage all farmers with hen harrier land to take up this measure under GLAS, which offers a payment rate of €370 per hectare. Farmers can earn up to €7,000 per annum through a combination of GLAS and GLAS plus payments and approximately 1,400 hen harrier farmers have already been approved for the new scheme.

In addition, I have recently announced that I intend to introduce a further scheme of assistance under the locally led agri-environment measure to cater for farmers who are farming large tracts of hen harrier land. One of the principles of the planned locally led measure is to explore new ways of managing farming effort for the benefit of the environment, in this case, the hen harrier. Once the new scheme has been designed, it must be negotiated with the European Commission and formally introduced by amendment to the rural development programme next year. I expect this process will be concluded early next year. Only one amendment of the rural development programme is allowed annually, which means a number of items will be bundled together and presented for approval at the same time. The proposed amendment is necessary to secure EU approval not alone for the new hen harrier scheme, but also for the various other locally led schemes I intend to introduce.

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