Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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Question 155: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will provide clarification regarding REP scheme payments to miscanthus growers and in particular the qualifying hectarage of miscanthus grass which will allow farmers to make best use of the Government support schemes in view of the fact that growers have sprayed and ploughed land in preparation for planting thereby placing a constraint on the need for clarification on this issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18791/08]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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REPS is an agri-environmental measure, and for that reason payments to farmers must be costed and justified on the basis of quantifiable environmental benefits that go beyond keeping land in good agricultural and environmental condition and observing the statutory management requirements of the Single Payment Scheme. No element of the REPS payment can be justified on the basis of a production support, nor can a farmer be compensated for the same action twice. REPS is not a support scheme; it is a voluntary scheme open to all farmers and payments under the scheme are not entitlements as of right. Participants who agree to be bound by the scheme conditions qualify for payment.

Under the specification for REPS 4, the maximum area of willow and miscanthus permitted on REPS farms is 10 hectares or 25% of the REPS contract area, whichever is the greater. This area limitation is in order to maintain landscape diversity. It would not be desirable or acceptable in an agri-environmental scheme to have whole farms, or a major portion of the lands, devoted to the growing of an introduced species monoculture. Existing levels of flora and fauna need to be sustained, and if possible improved, on all REPS farms and the large-scale growing of miscanthus is not consistent with this objective. The same maximum area applies in REPS 3 and my Department has clarified the position in a circular sent directly to all REPS planners. It has come to my Department's notice that a small number of farmers have exceeded the limits. My Department is examining these sympathetically on a case-by-case basis.