Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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587. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if a person (details supplied) in County Galway who is participating in the Twelve Bens-Maam Turk complex scheme that is due to finish at the end of this month, is permitted to put sheep back up on the mountain at the end of the Twelve Bens-Maam Turk complex scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46443/13]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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601. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if all limits on stock and farming practice on the Nephin Beag range and the MaamTurks-Twelve Bens have been lifted; and if not the restrictions that remain; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46558/13]

Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 587 and 601 together.

The grazing restrictions in the Twelve Bens/Garraun Complex Special Area of Conservation, the Maumturk Mountains Special Area of Conservation and the Owenduff/Nephin Special Protection Area concluded on the 1 November 2013. These interventions ran for 5 years in Co. Galway and 7 years in Co. Mayo, respectively, and I would like to acknowledge the active participation of the farming community during this period.

Participation in a farm plan in these areas is no longer mandatory and the offwintering requirement has been removed. The issue of the general requirement to maintain the land in Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition (GAEC) is a matter for the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.