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

A wrong was committed against the farmers concerned who were promised something which was not delivered. The previous Government had form in that regard in that it promised the sun, moon and stars in its efforts to achieve agreements but failed to deliver because it did not have the money to do so. One of the reasons it has taken some time to provide a response to help farmers who have hen harrier designation was that the decision on designation is made by a different Department. My Department is now trying to deal with the issue because we have the finance to do so. The guts of €23 million will be spent on farmers affected by hen harrier designation. This is a significant sum for the protection of one species of bird, including its habitat, nesting conditions for breeding birds and so forth.

We expect it will take until February or thereabouts to design the amendment to the rural development programme. If we can secure EU agreement to the amendment, we will have to draw up a scheme, which will take another couple of months. I was up front with farmers on this issue. We hope applicants will be accepted into the scheme by the final quarter of next year. That is the most realistic timeframe for the locally led scheme. In the meantime, however, farmers should apply to GLAS for payments under that scheme.

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