Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail)
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344. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason an area in County Limerick between Fedamore and Grange has been designated as an area of special interest for geese and swans, which has resulted in a number of farmers, who would like to participate in the green low-carbon agri-environmental scheme to boost their farm incomes, walking away from the scheme because the costs of compliance with this designation would be in excess of any financial benefit they would receive from the scheme itself; given the consultation process carried out by the National Parks and Wildlife Service for previous special protection area designations, the reason why a number of changes were made before the May 2015 deadline to the specification of the scheme covering birds such as the hen harrier, but there was no relaxation of the specification for geese and swans; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33434/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The matter of designation of lands under the Birds or Habitats Directives is a matter in the first instance for the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. One of the Priority Environmental Assets that guarantees entry to the GLAS scheme is the presence of Geese and Swan Habitat on the farm and these areas have been identified nationally at LPIS parcel level using mapping data provided by the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

The farming prescription for Hen Harrier sites was reviewed as the restrictions on the application of fertilisers impacted on fodder production. The same restrictions on fertiliser use are not required on geese and swan sites.

I will shortly be opening the second tranche for the submission of GLAS applications and have been considering the requirements for Geese and Swan sites for Tranche 2 applications to provide flexibility in delivering this action under the scheme.