Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick, Fine Gael)
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345. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if he will provide details of the number of landowners in tabular form by county whose lands are designated for habitat protection of the hen harrier but are not in receipt of compensation from his Department; his plans to include those landowners currently outside the remit of compensation schemes as a result of the designation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42092/13]

Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael)
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The figures in the table below indicate the number of landowners (by county) who were notified that their lands are designated (for the protection of the hen harrier) as Special Protection Areas (SPAs).

The number of participants who received payments under my Department’s Farm Plan Scheme for the Hen Harrier is set out in the table below. This is a voluntary scheme whereby farmers are paid for creating and enhancing habitat.

Due to budgetary constraints, the scheme is now closed to new applicants since April 2010.

While my Department has the lead role in relation to the implementation of the Habitats Directive and the Birds Directive, significant funding is provided through the Rural Development Programme, operated by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, which provides for a range of supports for farmers, including payments in respect of designated areas under the Directives.

This Department does not hold information of the number of individuals in these SPAs who are in receipt of payments for management of Natura 2000 lands in schemes operated by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. In recent versions of the Agri-Environmental Options Scheme (AEOS), lands designated as SPA were afforded priority access to this scheme.