Frank Feighan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 305: To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if a farmer who has 19 acres of bogland in special area of conservation (details supplied) in County Roscommon who has not cut turf for the past five years on this land is entitled to the compensation package. [33321/11]

Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael)
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The qualifying criteria for the Cessation of Turf Cutting Compensation Scheme, announced earlier this year require that:

· the claimant must have a legal interest in a site that is in one of the 53 raised bog Special Areas of Conservation (SACs). This could be through ownership of land or a turbary (turf-cutting) right within one of these designated sites.

· the claimant must have been the owner or entitled to exercise turbary rights on the land in question on 25th May 2010.

· the turbary on the site must not be exhausted.

· the claimant must have been cutting turf on the lands in question during the five year period up to the 25th of May 2010.

· with regard to 29 raised bog SACs on which turf cutting has ended, no turf cutting or associated activity is ongoing on the property or has occurred in 2011. If turf was cut in 2011 and all other qualifying criteria are met, payment or delivery of turf will not commence until 2012.

Any person, who feels that they qualify for compensation, should submit a completed Cessation of Turf Cutting Compensation Scheme application form to my Department. Each application will be examined within my Department.

The operation of this scheme will be kept under review. In this regard, the Peatlands Council has been tasked with advising me in relation to issues of compensation that may arise under the scheme.

If an individual has a legal interest in one of the 53 designated sites and had not been extracting turf in the five years up to 25th of May 2010, my Department is willing to examine the feasibility of relocating such interests to alternative non-designated bogs.