Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

25. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason if green low-carbon agri-environmental scheme planners are qualified by his Department to make the maximum eligible area assessment, they are insisting on re-assessing the planner’s reduction with a departmental inspection. [34215/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I presume the Deputy is referring to the assessment of the Maximum Eligible Area (MEA) in terms of the preparation of Commonage Management Plans 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 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 advisor. The main component of this plan is the introduction of a new grazing regime on each 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.

In some circumstances my Department may deem it necessary to conduct a ground check on certain commonages where the planner has indicated that there is a change in the reference area/MEA of a commonage. 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.