Jerry Cowley (Mayo, Independent)
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I am grateful for the opportunity to raise the important matter of why sheep farmers in the Ballycroy, Tiernar and Bangor areas of County Mayo have been asked to remove stock for six months of the year and to destock up to 70%, which will mean the extinction of their farming livelihoods. I do not know if the Minister is aware that the overwhelming majority of those farmers are already involved in REPS and have heavily destocked in recent times.

This is a very serious matter and could not be more so for the 300 farmers who are affected. They are sheep farmers who farm commonage in the Nephin Beg range in the Mulranny, Tiernar, Ballycroy and Bangor areas of County Mayo. The areas affected include the proposed national park for Ballycroy and also private land. There has been a lack of information from the State about what is happening. People came down to Mayo from on high and made assessments without any input from the farmers, who are trying to eke out a livelihood on the mountain. It is a scandal that so little information was provided, yet draconian measures are now being proposed which will sound the death knell of farming in this disadvantaged area and will be the coup de grâce for sheep farmers.

It is proposed that 70% destocking should take place and that sheep be taken off the mountain for five to six months. This is illogical because if the sheep are taken off the mountain for that length of time it will prove impossible to keep them on the mountain after that. They will simply not go up again. If they are taken off the mountain they will have to go somewhere but where can they go? At least one sheep farmer affected has no low land available to him. What is he to do? Who will find a place for his sheep? Who will pay for the rent of land to accommodate them or provide housing for them for five or six months?

These same farmers have already been badly squeezed by the State. They are already involved in good farming practices such as REPS. Over 90% carry out their farming activity to REPS and they have already undergone a 30% destocking. Yet they are indiscriminately being made to pay a terrible price.

The national plan for the national parks and wildlife service should have been up and running over eight years ago but it is not. It was supposed to be in place when the commonage framework plan was introduced in 2002. That was to be the alternative for those who were not suited to or would not go into REPS, as the scheme was not suitable for everybody. REPS was to be the plan of the Department of Agriculture and Food and the national scheme was to be that of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. Until that scheme is in place the commonage framework plan cannot be implemented as the national plan was to be the alternative to REPS for those who did not want to go into that scheme.

The present proposal involves the pursuit of an agenda by faceless bureaucrats who have little or no understanding of the harsh reality of life in rural Mayo. I wonder if they want to know. The result will be the demise of sheep farming and the further depopulation of an already sparsely populated area. I wonder if the plan is to wipe out the farmers completely. People are supportive of the proposed national park in Ballycroy, but must an entire population of 300 sheep farmers be wiped out for the sake of a few day-trippers? These farmers are owed a full explanation of what is going on and demand fair play from the Minister, as I do. They deserve to survive so that they and their children can have a future in farming. Homo sapiens matters too.

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. As my Department has the lead role in matters involved in this question I am pleased to respond.

In June 2002 the European Commission secured a judgment against Ireland in the European Court of Justice, in case C117/00. The case, which focused on the Owenduff and Nephin Beg areas of County Mayo, was taken under the birds directive and concerned the extent to which the habitat of the red grouse was compromised by the overgrazing of sheep. Since that time considerable work, designed to address the issue of overgrazing, has been carried out by my Department and by the Department of Agriculture and Food. The work mainly finds expression in the production of commonage framework plans. These agri-environmental plans relate to just under 500,000 hectares of commonage land throughout the county including the Owenduff and the Nephin Beg area.

Having regard to the extent of environmental damage and the stocking levels currently on the land in question these lands produce a destocking requirement for each commonage. These requirements range from fairly low levels in commonage areas that are lightly damaged to 70% and higher in areas that are severely damaged. The actual destocking requirements in CFPs are to be monitored and revised at regular intervals and are to have regard to the success or otherwise of measures that have already taken place on each of these commonages. Recent monitoring carried out in severely damaged areas of Owenduff and Nephin Beg has shown that considerable damage is still in evidence. Accordingly it is not possible at this time to revise downwards the full destocking requirement specified in the CFP plans.

My Department and the Department of Agriculture and Food are in ongoing contact with the European Commission on the subject of our response to the judgment of the European Court. A fundamental element of that response is that the destocking prescriptions in the Owenduff and Nephin Beg areas and elsewhere will be implemented. For individual landowners the implementation of these destocking requirements will be met through REP plans or, alternatively, through a plan drawn up under my Department's farm plan scheme.

Approximately 60% of sheep farmers grazing the complex participate in the rural environment protection scheme, REPS, operated by the Department of Agriculture and Food. REPS is a voluntary scheme and participants with commonage land must comply with the commonage framework plan grazing requirements. The scheme will continue to make a positive contribution to specific environmental objectives and will continue to complement actions taken by my Department to address this serious issue.

Implementation of the commonage framework plans commenced in 2002. Where a commonage framework plan required destocking in excess of 50% in that year it was capped at 50%. The overall plan was to rise to a maximum of 60% in following years until such time as a reassessment of the commonage was undertaken. In recent consultations with farming representatives it was reiterated that the recovery plan for theOwenduff area will continue to require an annual period of total destocking. My Department remains in negotiation with farming representatives about the precise duration of this destocking period and I am confident that a resolution can be found shortly which will be acceptable to both sides and credible in terms of our obligations under the European Court of Justice judgment.