Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am just making the point that what is good for the goose is good for the gander. Member states can designate an area of up to 10% of the area in their territory. This approach was taken to designate the offshore islands in 2015. Areas with specific constraint are those where 50% of the district electoral division, DED, is covered by Natura 2000 directive lands and the natural heritage areas, where the landholding in the DED is in multiple blocks and fragmented, and where the average farm size in a DED is less than 80% of the national average, or 25.5 ha. The areas also include locations where more than 50% of the townland is in permanent grassland and the average field size is less than 4 ha. Criteria were used to keep areas in this.

I accept there are always difficult cases but the Department officials went to the Commission and had quite a job in persuading its officials that this would be in line with the Commission's demand for member states to be consistent in how they designate these areas. The 10% allowed some flexibility but we can see how they had to justify the balance. I accept the matter is not sitting well in some areas but the net result is that 760 are out but more than 2,200 are in. The coverage under areas of natural constraint has seen a net increase.

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