Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 232: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the acreage under bio-fuel production; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37804/08]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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To encourage the cultivation of energy crops, my Department introduced a number of new incentives in 2007 including a new National Energy Crop Premium of €80 per hectare to supplement the EU Premium of €45 per hectare available under the EU Energy Crops Scheme. The Department also launched a new Bioenergy Scheme in February 2007 to provide establishment grants worth €1,450 per hectare to farmers to grow willow and miscanthus as a renewable source of energy. So far 1,700 hectares of willow and miscanthus have been planted under the Scheme. Some 5,000 hectares of energy crops were planted in 2008 under the EU Energy Crops Scheme. The varieties of energy crops sown include Oilseed Rape, Miscanthus, Willow, Oats and Wheat.