Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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11. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the total number of farmers in County Meath that enrolled in the areas of natural constraint, ANC, scheme; the process of reviewing qualifying areas for the areas of natural constraint scheme; if his department has completed the mapping exercise in County Meath; when the maps will be published; the consultation that will be undertaken with farmers in County Meath on the review; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4928/17]

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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I am seeking to know the number of farmers who are eligible for ANC payments and the impacts of the review on County Meath's farmers in particular.

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Article 32 of EU Regulation 1305/2013 requires all member states to implement a new system for designating eligible areas under the ANC scheme from 2018 at the latest. Currently, eligible land under the scheme is designated by reference to criteria such as stocking density, family farm income, population density and the percentage of the working population engaged in agriculture. Under the 2015 ANC scheme, 1,319 holdings in County Meath were eligible for the scheme.

Under the new system of designation that must be introduced in 2018, eligible areas will have to be designated on the basis of biophysical criteria. The criteria set out in the legislation are low temperature; dryness; excess soil moisture; limited soil drainage; unfavourable texture and stoniness; shallow rooting depth; poor chemical properties; and steep slope. My Department has commenced work on this project and relevant technical experts are sourcing and analysing the data in respect of the new criteria. This analysis will identify areas deemed to be facing natural constraints, which will in parallel be subjected to a refinement process. Once this process is complete, the draft data will provide the basis for the identification of eligible areas for ANC. It is envisaged that stakeholders will be consulted as this process develops.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister stated that 1,319 holdings in County Meath were currently eligible. It is vital that they continue to be eligible. Will the Minister give a commitment that no farmer in County Meath will lose out as a result of the review?

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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I can give a statement of my ambition, but there are clearly defined European Commission criteria that officials in my Department are obliged to apply in respect of lands across the country.

Of course it is my ambition that what we have, we hold. There will be a consultation process and engagement with stakeholders. We hope we will be in a position to ensure that everybody who has a payment at the moment will hold it. However, as to whether I can guarantee that, of course I cannot, but I suspect it is highly likely that the overwhelming majority of people will retain the payment. That is the premise from which I started on this process. The Commission has set down revised criteria and we must apply them to the process that is under way across the entire European Union. We are working to ensure that people who have a payment and designation will hold them.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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Farmers in my constituency would like more of a commitment rather than an ambition because they are under severe pressure at the moment. The Minister must do everything in his power.

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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That is my ambition.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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Yes, but the Minister must do everything in his power to turn that ambition into reality because the situation at the moment is not good enough. We must ensure farmers can have some level of security in terms of the bit of help the payment provides. The Minister is not doing that at the moment.

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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I had a similar debate with Deputy McConalogue earlier. As I said, my ambition is to try to ensure that every farmer who has a payment retains it, whether that is in County Meath, County Donegal, County Cork, County Tipperary, County Kilkenny, County Wicklow or anywhere else. It is a critical part of agricultural income and household budgeting in respect of the farmers concerned and for obvious reasons, therefore, we are anxious to hold what we have.