Jerry Cowley (Mayo, Independent)
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Question 441: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if his Department has plans to compensate persons who sold their bog lands before and without being aware of a compensation package; his views on whether there should have been forewarning; the compensation for these persons; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39781/05]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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In July 2004, my Department concluded an agreement with the farming pillar under Sustaining Progress which involved increased rates of compensation for the cessation of turf cutting in bogs that have been proposed as designated conservation areas. This agreement incorporates retrospective provisions benefiting landowners who participated in the original 1999 scheme for disposal of raised bogs and turbary rights to my Department. People who sold bog lands prior to the original 1999 scheme were paid on the basis of individual valuations and agreements and are not entitled to further compensation under the 2004 agreement.