Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

A review of the areas of natural constraints, ANC, scheme has been ongoing for several years. I acknowledge the work carried out by the Department in the review. It did its best to get the maximum number of farmers and amount of farmland included in the scheme. Two weeks ago, Fianna Fáil representatives met departmental officials who explained the appeals process to us. All reviews lead to anomalies and hard luck cases, and I wish to focus on such cases.

Some 700 townlands fell out of the scheme, having been deemed ineligible this time around. Some 2,200 formerly excluded areas have been deemed eligible. Obviously, from an economic point of view, that is a good financial gain. In my county of Tipperary, there are several farmers in certain townlands who feel hard done by. The strictness of the appeals process will make it very difficult for them to be successful. In a particular area of my county, there are several fairly significant dairy farmers in townlands who are farming on difficult lands. They spent a lot of money through the years draining, improving and maintaining that land. The land carries with it a cost as regards cost of production because there is later turnout and earlier housing of stock, as well as the cost of keeping the drains maintained. Those farmers are being excluded from the ANC scheme even though we were told that they would qualify on the basis of the physical criteria of their land. However, they are being excluded because of their stocking rate. That is extremely unfair. The impression was given at the start that if one's land met the physical criteria, one would qualify as the review would be strictly based on the physical criteria of the land. There are farmers in these areas whose lands are adjacent to intensive dairy farmers, but far less intensively stocked. They are being excluded because of the farming practices of neighbouring farmers. That must be looked at and addressed. My understanding of the guidelines for the appeals process is that it will be extremely difficult to address that issue.

Another group of farmers who feel aggrieved is those whose land is flooded on a fairly frequent basis. They are not being accommodated under the review of the ANC scheme.

Some farmers' land is flooded three or four times a year. Last summer's weather was an exception. There are flood plains, whether they border the River Suir or any other major river, that are flooded frequently. Again, the farmers affected feel very hard done by that this is not a criterion for inclusion in the scheme.

As I said, I am not here to score political points against the Minister of State but to highlight the fact that, as is always the case with reviews, there are hard luck cases and people who fall outside of the remit of the review. There are farmers who have invested a lot of money in improving land that was marginal. I feel very strongly that that land is still disadvantaged, even though it gives a very green image. As I said, the farmers affected farm intensively and have the land that is highly stocked, but that land carries a cost of production and that these farmers are being excluded on the basis of the stocking rate when their land meets the physical criteria is wrong.

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