Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick, Fine Gael)
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333. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will provide, in tabular form by county, since 2010, the number of penalties and the total amounts involved imposed on farmers and landowners by his Department as a result of practices required by the National Parks and Wildlife Service to be carried out by the landowners to protect habitats within special areas of conservation and special protection areas, practices which are not in compliance with those required by his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26294/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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In 2014, 33,447 farmers declared 534,000 hectares of land designated as Natura 2000 for the purposes of the Single Payment Scheme and other Direct Payment Schemes. These lands are designed as required under the provisions of Council Directive 79/409/EEC of 2 April 1979 on the conservation of wild birds (1) and Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora. The designation does not require farmers to carry out specific practices. The habitats, however, have associated Notifiable Actions or Activities Requiring Consent for which Ministerial consent must be sought if not regulated by another agency or Government Department.

I have arranged for the compilation of details of payment reductions and penalties applied to farmers, who included land designated as Natura land, in their application under the Single Payment Scheme since 2010. It must, however, be noted that it is not possible to isolate the Natura land in the payment reduction and penalty calculation. In 2014, for example, the farmers, who declared 534,000 hectares of Natura land claimed a total of over 1.5 million hectares under the Single Payment Scheme. Some land parcels contain both Natura and non-Natura land and the total area of the parcels in question amounted to over 920,000 hectares of which 534,000 is Natura. I will arrange to provide this data to the Deputy when it is established.

It should be borne in mind also that while some of the exclusions relate to scrub, significant areas were excluded for payment purposes under the Scheme, as they were abandoned. In the case of the hen harrier habitats, for example, it is important that the land does not become abandoned given the harrier also needs a mosaic of open areas extended beyond the areas of scrub identified in habitat map.

The EU Regulations provide that where areas have become ineligible for payment and this is due to compliance with Special Protection Areas (SPA) or Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) management requirements these areas will continue to be eligible for payment provided that:

- the newly ineligible area was due to compliance with SPA and SAC requirements;

- the area in question was declared on a 2008 SPS application form;

- the area was declared as eligible to draw down an SPS payment in 2008;

- the applicant who declared that land on a 2008 SPS application form was paid under the 2008 Single Payment Scheme.

Any farmer, who had areas of Natura land deemed ineligible for payment under the Direct Payment Scheme, can submit an appeal to my Department (LPIS Appeals Section (Natura), Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Abbeyleix Road, Portlaoise, Co Laois. My Department will examine each case based on its merits. Particular attention will be paid to establishing whether the ineligible features of the area under appeal existed in 2008.