Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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562. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he has held provisional discussions with his Department and with the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht regarding a new agri-environmental scheme to be rolled out under the new rural development programme; if he favours a whole farm approach or a more targeted scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50855/13]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Work on the design of the next Rural Development Programme (RDP) 2014 – 2020 is well underway. In designing the new RDP, my Department must take account of the range of requirements set out in the draft Rural Development Regulation and the need to support key policy aim for the agri food sector in light of the Food Harvest 2020 strategy. As part of this process a number of ex-ante analysis are being undertaken, and key stakeholders are being consulted.

While the draft Rural Development presents a menu of possible measures for Member States, an agri-environment scheme is a mandatory element of the new RDP. Accordingly, officials in my Department have been working on the design of an agri-environment scheme for the new RDP. As part of this process, my Department is in ongoing discussions with the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. Final decisions in relation to the exact measures to be included in the new RDP and how they are to be structured have not yet been made. I expect to make decisions in relation to the measures to be supported under the new RDP by the end of this year, and to submit a draft programme to the Commission in early 2014.