Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The new agri climate rural environment scheme, ACRES, for farmers is a couple of weeks from being nailed down. It is a good scheme but unfortunately, there are some cohorts which do not quite fit in. Farmers who are on the hen harrier scheme and superficially in Clare, Burren farmers. There are 400 farmers in Clare in the Burren Life programme. It is a fantastic project which is run by Dr. Brendan Dunford and his team. I have met them and the Irish Farmers Association, IFA. The new scheme does not cater for them. The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy McConalogue, will meet them next Tuesday and hopefully there will be a positive outcome. This is a project that has led the way. The fields in the Burren are scored on a one to ten grade. Farmers are paid by the environmental inputs. The project has been recognised by UNESCO. I do not know of any farm, field or tract of land that has been recognised in Europe apart from the Burren. It is now a geopark.

Will the Taoiseach comment on the mass resignation of board members from Horse Sport Ireland?

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