Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein)
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18. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his views on his Department using the green low-carbon agri-environmental scheme as a means to reduce participants’ claimable area and that of their neighbours who are not participating in the scheme. [34212/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I presume the Deputy is referring to the preparation of Commonage Management Plans under the new measure introduced for commonages as part of the Green Low-Carbon Agri-Environmental Scheme , GLAS. Commonages, which primarily consist of upland grazing, represent a mosaic of extremely important habitats, many of which are designated Natura areas. They are also, however, extremely important areas for agriculture and indeed their environmental value today and the richness of the biodiversity they present is to no small extent a result of hundreds, and indeed, thousands of years of agricultural use. Many of these commonages are now seriously under-grazed, which has had a detrimental effect on both land eligibility and biodiversity.

Under GLAS, one of our main objectives is to restore these uplands to agricultural and environmental health. To do that, we have created a specific measure within the new scheme that encourages shareholders on commonages to come together and draw up a new Commonage Management Plan with the help of a trained GLAS commonage advisor. The main component of this plan is the introduction of a new grazing regime on every commonage, which is tailored to the needs of that commonage, and to which each shareholder in GLAS must now commit and contribute.

The new GLAS Commonage Management Plans are required to review the entire area of the commonage, as all this area is potentially accessible to anybody grazing the hill. The Plan, when submitted, will provide a full assessment of the land cover that exists on the ground at present. This is one of its key values: these Plans are based on a new assessment of the condition of the commonage, drawn from site-visits and discussion with the participating shareholders. Amongst other things, the Plan needs to identify the actual grazable area on the commonage and then prepare a series of actions designed to at least maintain that area in good condition, while also addressing the conservation of other important habitats elsewhere. For this reason, under GLAS, my Department will pay on the entire area, not just the area directly available for agriculture.

The assessment undertaken must address any areas that are possibly ineligible under the current eligibility rules. If a consequence of this is that the Maximum Eligible Area (MEA) needs to be reduced, my Department will need to consider whether the BPS claim on the parcel in question also needs to be reduced in order to ensure that penalties do not occur. However, it should be noted that the MEA approach is considerably more flexible than previous ones, allowing areas of scrub for example to be accommodated within an overall calculation of what is eligible for payment. I believe that the combination of this approach, with a renewed and balanced grazing effort initiated through GLAS, will in fact safeguard the eligibility of these lands into the future.

Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein)
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19. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will provide the list of stocking rate calculations for commonages; respond to criticism that his Department officials are unable to provide clear guidance as to whether the stock that is carried on the commonage should include all stock, from both green low-carbon agri-environmental scheme, GLAS, and non-GLAS participants; and if the GLAS planner is only to take into account the stock carried on the commonage of GLAS participants. [34214/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Maximum and minimum stocking levels have already been established and published for all commonages. However, in the context of drawing up the Commonage Management Plans required under GLAS, it is accepted that the GLAS advisor acting for the shareholders concerned may form a different impression of what the commonage can or should carry, in the best interests of its environmental health. In such cases, I have specifically provided that the Advisor may recommend a different stocking level to the one which has been published, to ensure the commonage is adequately grazed and that habitats are protected. If the basis for doing so is sound, that new stocking-level will be accepted and can be used for drawing up the required Commonage Management Plan. For commonages in excess of 10 hectares, the stocking figures adopted for the Commonage Management Plan are based on what is required to maintain the commonage and requires the active participation of all GLAS farmers who have signed up to the Plan. However, where there are also farmers grazing the commonage under AEOS contracts, the GLAS Advisor drawing up the new Commonage Management Plan may include the grazing effort of these AEOS farmers in his calculations. This has been fully explained to advisors.

In addition, I have also provided for further flexibility in situations where a very small number of shareholders sign up to a Commonage Management Plan and the scale of the grazing requirement is clearly unattainable by that group. These cases will be reviewed by the Commonage Implementation Committee who may recommend that a lower total minimum grazing requirement apply.

Finally, where some shareholders signing up to the Commonage Management Plan are already grazing in excess of their individual maximum stocking level, I have also provided that this can be accommodated within the Plan if the other shareholders agree. In such cases, the other shareholders can reduce their own grazing effort by up to 50% to rebalance the Plan overall.