Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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Question 70: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food his plans to have a debate in Dáil Éireann on the current EU review of disadvantaged areas; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26066/09]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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There are currently three categories of Less Favoured Areas (LFAs) or Disadvantaged Areas in the EU, viz:

Mountain Areas — there are none in Ireland but the category covers 16% of land area across the EU;

Intermediate Less Favoured Areas — which covers over 99% of Ireland's LFAs; and

Areas of Specific Handicap — which covers 0.4% of Ireland's LFAs (Coastal Regions).

Prompted criticism by the European Court of Auditors on the number and variety of criteria used by Member States to designate intermediate LFAs (over 100 criteria) and the lack of transparency, the Commission is currently conducting a Community-wide review of the Scheme. These criticisms were based on the number and variety of criteria used by Member States to designate intermediate LFAs (over 100 criteria) and the lack of transparency.

The Commission have previously made a number of unsuccessful attempts to deal with the criticisms made by the Court of Auditors. During 2004/2005, the Commission proposed that intermediate LFAs be designated using criteria based on area classification reflecting poor soil qualities and climate conditions but this approach was rejected by the Council of Ministers. In 2007, the Commission commenced working with its Joint Research Centre (JRC) to establish a common soil and climate criteria that would support the delineation of LFAs. Their intention was that a Commission proposal would be submitted to the Council in early 2009 for adoption by the Council of Ministers by the end of 2009. However, this approach was also abandoned by the Commission in favour of the current approach.

The Commission's current proposal is that LFAs (to be known as Areas of Natural Handicap) will be delineated by Member States using eight soil and climatic criteria as follows:

Climate, including Low Temperature and Heat Stress;

Soil, including Drainage, Texture & Stoniness, Rooting Depth and Chemical Properties;

Soil & Climate, including Soil Moisture Balance;

Terrain, including Slope.

An area (administrative unit) would be delineated as an area of Natural Handicap, when it meets the proposed threshold set for one of the above criteria only.

The Council of Ministers recently considered the matter and agreed Council Conclusions, calling for Member State support in the simulation process. While I can support the approach as outlined, my primary concern is that the proposed eight biophysical criteria do not take into account, in my view, the impact of the prevailing climatic conditions in North Western Europe. However, the Council Conclusions do provide for the use by Member States of additional criteria, in addition to the proposed eight biophysical criteria, and I am pleased to say that good progress is being made by my officials, supported by Teagasc soil scientists, in discussions with the Commission and the JRC.

Areas identified as meeting the criteria for the proposed designation as areas of Natural Handicap may then be subject to a fine-tuning process. These so called Second Stage Criteria are designed to remove areas which, although they meet the biophysical criteria, are deemed to have overcome the natural disadvantage and, therefore, should not benefit under the Scheme.

It is accepted that if the Council of Ministers adopt a proposal from the Commission on the designation of Areas of Natural Handicap, the new regime can only be implemented from 2014 onwards.

This is a very important issue for Ireland as the total area currently designated as disadvantaged is almost 75% of Ireland's total land area. From an economic perspective, the Less Favoured Areas Scheme is particularly significant, as it contributes to the support of in excess of 100,000 Irish farm families, whose ability to farm is restricted by the physical environment, in particular, the impact of the prevailing wet cold climatic conditions in Ireland. I remain fully committed to ensuring that every effort is made to achieve the best possible outcome for Ireland from this review.