Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I understand the baseline conditionality. I am no expert on this, but I listened to carefully to what those who are experts are saying. It seems on the face of it that small farmers are disproportionately affected by the percentage employed. I can only tell the Minister what I have been informed of, which is that the Department has decided that if 51% of the parcel comprises peatlands and wetlands, the entire land falls under GAEC 2. This means that 100,000 acres of mineral sites are captured that were not meant to be captured. On the other hand, by using this percentage, if 49% is peatlands, it is excluded. That takes 200,000 acres of carbon out of it. I prefaced my remarks by saying that I am no expert, but questions have to be asked and answered in a way that reassures small farmers who clearly think they will be disproportionately affected compared with the larger intensive farms.

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