Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Question 461: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he will confirm that under the destocking compensation, Connemara hill farmers who are complying with the habitats directive are entitled to a compensation package of €2,000 per annum for five years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42358/08]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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In order to reduce the serious damage caused by overgrazing by sheep, all farmers who farm within the Twelve Bens/Garraun Complex and Maumturks Mountains SACs are obliged to enter an approved agri-environmental plan either Rural Environmental Protection Scheme (REPS) managed by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food or a National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) Farm Plan managed by my Department for a five year period from 1 November 2008. As these measures are additional to the existing Commonage Framework Plans, farmers in the REPS scheme will be paid further financial compensation of €2000 by NPWS for each year in which they have fully met the destocking and off-wintering provisions of their plans. In year one, payments will be reduced proportionally in line with delays in destocking, in order to provide an incentive to destock early.

Farmers who enter an NPWS farm plan are compensated on a different basis. The NPWS scheme is intended to cover lands designated for nature value only, whereas REPS is a whole farm scheme. Payments under the NPWS scheme are €27.75 for each sheep destocked per annum and €50.00 per annum for each sheep off-wintered for 5 months from commonage areas.