Pádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I raise the matter of the proposed off-wintering and destocking regime to be applied in Connemara in the Twelve Bens-Garraun and Maumturk mountain complex special area of conservation. Proposing what will effectively be a six-month withdrawal of sheep from the Connemara mountain commonages cannot work in practice and while whoever drew up this directive might know something about protecting grouse, if grouse were in this area which they have not been for 20 years, they certainly know nothing about mountain sheep.

To produce a regulation that all sheep have to be removed from mountain commonages from 1 November to 31 December and from 14 February to 13 May in reality means from 1 November through to mid-May as it would not be practical to have the sheep back on the mountains for the month of January. This will not work. How can hill farmers who have limited lowland accommodation, which is the situation in Connemara, accommodate their flocks off the hills for half the year? These sheep will have to be fed when they are removed from their natural grazing area and with the increased cost of sheep nuts, now up to €8 a bag compared with €6.25 a bag last year, flock owners would not be able to sustain this extra cost.

If a farmer is in REPS he or she cannot winter the sheep on the limited low lands. The cost of providing sheds will be prohibitive, even if planning permission can be obtained for such buildings in special areas of conservation, which will be very difficult.

Last Monday night, I attended a meeting in Maam Cross with 300 concerned farmers and it is a pity the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government or his representative did not accept the invitation to attend as he could have received first-hand knowledge on how these proposals cannot work. One colourful speaker there in referring to the national parks and wildlife scheme, NPWS, said the acronym stood for "no people west of the Shannon".

A line in the reply from the Minister's office to the IFA's invitation to attend the meeting states: "It has also been our experience that the convening of mass meetings of farmers, particularly in the evening, is not conducive to good and accurate communication and discussion of proposals." When else could one have a meeting with farmers except in the evening? It would have been productive if the Minister had bothered to attend or send a representative.

I am all for preserving the environment and no one is more committed to the environment than I am, but we will not do it this way. The majority of the people who attended the Maam Cross meeting will not support the Lisbon treaty and neither will the Connemara and west coast fishermen because they see European directives wiping out their livelihood and way of life. Let us protect the grouse and other birds and wildlife by taking measures to control foxes, badgers and mink which are now major threats to bird life on the hills. Grouse feed on fresh young heather shoots and, therefore, they need the heather to be grazed.

If the hills are destocked it will lead to greater growth and more hill and heather fires in the summer months and, therefore, these proposed measures will be counterproductive for the protection of wildlife. Last year the majority of calls to the Clifden fire brigade dealt mainly with mountain bog fires. Some commonage is growing wild from undergrazing, such as the Shanakeela commonage of approximately 1,500 acres with approximately 550 ewes. The heather there is growing strong and wild.

Look at what happened in the Burren. Under a directive a number of years ago, cattle had to be taken off the Burren. The hazel and other brambles came up and people are now trying to put cattle back on the Burren to control this as the Burren was controlled in a natural manner for thousands of years.

I urge the Minister to meet the Connemara hill farmers and to work with the IFA to establish a satisfactory solution to this problem in everyone's interest. We need the co-operation of everyone concerned in the interest of the environment and who better to protect the environment than the people who have been doing this for generations.

Once sheep are taken off their natural habitat on the mountains for six months of the year it will be impossible to put them back because mountain cross-bred scotch ewes are bred for grazing on mountain commonage. I appeal to my fellow Galway TDs, none of whom was able to attend the meeting in Maam Cross on Monday night, to ensure this directive does not go through on 1 November because it will be the death knell for sheep farming in the traditional manner in the Connemara mountain range.

I am very disappointed, although not for the sake of the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Hoctor, who has been put in the House tonight to take every Adjournment matter. Her office has nothing to do with the matter I raise and she will make a reply prepared for her without any reference to the serious points I raise. I wish, however, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government or someone responsible would have the manners to come here and deal with this serious problem. They did not have the manners to attend the meeting at Maam Cross on Monday night. I assure the Minister of State that this will not work and I ask her to take this message back.

Máire Hoctor (Tipperary North, Fianna Fail)
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I am replying on behalf of the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. While I play a significant part in the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, the area referred to by Deputy McCormack is not my immediate area.

Pádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I know that.

Máire Hoctor (Tipperary North, Fianna Fail)
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The point I am making is that I am not totally removed from the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government.

Pádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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The Minister of State is a long way removed from the hills of Connemara.

Máire Hoctor (Tipperary North, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy might be surprised.

Pádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I would be.

Máire Hoctor (Tipperary North, Fianna Fail)
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I am glad of this opportunity to provide some background to the agri-environment measures to apply in the Twelve Bens-Garraun and Maumturk mountain complex special areas of conservation, in addition to providing clarification on the further measures that are to be implemented. These measures are an effort to meet fully the requirements set by a European Court judgment in 2002. The court ruled that:

[B]y failing to take the measures necessary to safeguard a sufficient diversity and area of habitats for the red grouse and by failing to take appropriate steps to avoid, in the Owenduff Nephin Beg complex special protection area, the deterioration of the habitats of the species for which the special protection area was designated, Ireland has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 3 of Council Directive 79/409/EEC of 2 April 1979 on the conservation of wild birds and Article 6(2) of Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora.

Major efforts are being made by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, in co-operation, to address the court finding. These Departments took a number of steps to try to reduce damage to red grouse habitat across commonages generally, and in the Owenduff-Nephin Beg ranges specifically where an intensive and generously funded agri-environmental programme of measures has been in operation for some years. Almost all farmers in the area have co-operated fully in implementing these measures, which include two periods of off-wintering for sheep between November and May. I acknowledge their co-operation.

In addition, since 2005 the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government has been evaluating the condition of habitat for red grouse in commonage and non-commonage land throughout the country, with particular focus on sites found to be damaged in the initial commonage framework planning exercise. Notwithstanding these efforts, the Commission has pursued Ireland for full compliance with the ruling and has taken the necessary preliminary steps to refer Ireland to court for a fine for failure to comply.

In particular, the Commission continues to be concerned that the detailed monitoring I mentioned has established that no recovery has taken place to the extensive areas damaged in the Twelve Bens-Garraun and Maumturk mountain complex special areas of conservation despite the commonage framework plan and the existence of schemes such as the rural environmental protection scheme.

As a result, the two Ministers have agreed to put in place the following additional measures to deliver recovery. It is intended there will be a five-month off-wintering period in commonages in the Twelve Bens-Garraun complex special area of conservation and the Maumturk mountain complex special area of conservation similar to that applying in Owenduff-Nephin Beg. This should be in place for five years, from 1 November to 31 December and from 14 February to 13 May annually, commencing on 1 November 2008. Farmers in these areas will be required to comply with the new farming conditions by amending their existing REPS plan or entering the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government's national farm plan scheme.

The revised plans will ensure the commonage is grazed sustainably and that the off-wintered stock can be managed on the private land over the winter period. The level of sustainable stock numbers in the open commonage period and on privately owned SACs will be assessed by the farm planner taking into account the farmer's share, where relevant, the habitats involved and the condition of the habitats. Farmers who join the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government's farm plan scheme will be compensated on the model that has been successfully operated in the Owenduff-Nephin Beg SPA, through compensation for each destocked ewe — below the level of five ewes per hectare over the whole farm — or the off-wintering of ewes which requires the provision of foodstuff by farmers. REPS farmers are entitled to substantial payments under the scheme.

During the coming weeks both Departments will arrange a series of local meetings or clinics in the area concerned in order that these measures and the necessity for them can be explained to farmers on an individual basis. The Ministers for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Environment, Heritage and Local Government believe these measures are necessary to secure the closure of the outstanding infringement proceedings against Ireland. I add the warning that if the measures set out are not implemented, Ireland is likely to be referred to the court and face very large fines for its failure to comply with EU legislation.