Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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776. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his plans for the review of the areas of natural constraint scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12630/16]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Article 32 of EU Regulation 1305/2013 requires all member states to implement a new system for designating eligible areas under the Areas of Natural Constraints (ANC) scheme from 2018 at the latest. At present, eligible land under the scheme is designated by reference to criteria such as stocking density, family farm income, population density and the percentage of the working population engaged in agriculture. Under the new system of designation which must be introduced in 2018, eligible areas will have to be designated on the basis of biophysical criteria such as temperature, dryness, soil drainage, moisture and stoniness, and slope of the terrain.

My Department has commenced work on this project, and relevant technical experts are currently working on sourcing and analysing the data in relation to the new criteria. Once this process is complete, the data will provide the basis for the identification of eligible areas in the ANC scheme from 2018 onwards. Until this process is complete, it is not possible to predict what the outcome will be.