Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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295. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he has received correspondence from a group (details supplied) dated the 14 October 2014; his views on the correspondence; his plans to meet with the group as requested; the details of the agreement made between the group and the commonage implementation committee with regards to the issue of collective agreement; his plans to make provision for commonage farmers to apply for GLAS individually; his plans to make provision for commonage management plans to be drawn up at the expense of his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40268/14]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Ireland’s new Rural Development Programme is now being considered by the EU Commission. The launch of new schemes, including GLAS, is dependent on getting EU approval for the Rural Development Programme. I am aware of the correspondence mentioned by the Deputy and I appreciate that there remain many concerns amongst hill-farmers in respect of the new proposals for commonages under GLAS. My Department conducted an extensive consultation process on all aspects of the Rural Development Programme over a period of a year and half, including the proposals for commonages.  I have listened very carefully to the concerns expressed by hill-farmers and their representatives and have adapted these proposals significantly in the light of those concerns.

The original requirement was for 80% participation, but this was subsequently reduced to 50%, with further clarification provided that this would be calculated on the basis of the number of active farmers on the hill. What this means in practice is that in a situation where there are 20 shareholders on a commonage, of whom 16 have claims, and 10 of these have sheep, then the 50% requirement to set up a GLAS Plan would be just 5 shareholders - not 8, and not 10.  In practice, then, the 50% requirement is unlikely to be an obstacle, but where it still proves impossible to achieve the shareholders concerned who wish to join GLAS can still do so by bringing their case to the Implementation Committee.

On the question of the agreement reached between the group and the Commonage Implementation Committee, it was made very clear in the agreed wording that there could only be one plan for each commonage and that a minimum participation level of 50% would continue to apply. However, it was also made clear that farmers could indicate their interest in joining the scheme on an individual basis, applying directly to the adviser preparing the single plan, or routing that through their own adviser if preferred. This remains the case. I have also made it clear that where it is not possible to achieve the required 50% participation level on any commonage, no genuine applicant will be locked out of the scheme.

Over the past few weeks my Department held a series of information evenings for hill-farmers, where the new proposals have been explained in detail and where the farmers themselves have had the opportunity to express their concerns in person. In most cases, the farmers at these meetings have engaged very constructively and positively in the discussion and it has been a very useful process.  Once within the scheme, it is the farmers themselves who, in consultation with the commonage advisor, design their own plan, set the grazing levels and distribute any additional grazing requirement.  This puts the development of the plan in the hands of the farmers themselves and my Department has no role in drawing up or paying for the plan; the cost of the plan is built into the payment rate for the commonage which has been significantly increased for the new programme from €75 per hectare to €120 per hectare.

If people look carefully at what is actually proposed, they will see that this is a very flexible scheme which actually gives the shareholders a real say in how the hills are managed, in their own best interests and in the interests of the environment. Ongoing consultation is taking place with individual farmers, farming organisations and public representatives to address any outstanding reasonable concerns. The priority is to progress the launch of the scheme so that the benefits of these new arrangements, including the increased payments, can transfer to farmers as soon as possible.