Written answers

Thursday, 9 March 2017

Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Hen Harriers Threat Response Plan

Photo of Aindrias MoynihanAindrias Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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34. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the steps he is taking to ensure the new hen harrier scheme is fit for purpose and does not disadvantage landowners. [12198/17]

Photo of Michael CreedMichael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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I have already provided for a significant framework of support for farmers with hen-harrier designated land through my Department's agri-environment scheme GLAS.  Farmers with land identified as important for the hen-harrier are guaranteed access to the scheme as priority candidates in Tier One of GLAS.  I have also provided that such farmers will be automatically approved for GLAS Plus should they be farming sufficient area of habitat.  Under GLAS, farmers qualify for a payment rate of €370 per hectare and can earn up to €7,000 per annum through a combination of GLAS and GLAS Plus payments.  There are currently 2,687 farmers with the hen harrier action participating in GLAS.

The new locally-led scheme for the hen harrier will complement the GLAS hen harrier action.  The approach to be taken will be innovative in that all parties, including the farmers concerned, will be involved in developing the scheme.  Not only will the scheme be designed on a partnership basis; farmers will be able to choose the actions that best suit their farming enterprise.  The scheme will be flexible and locally adaptive which will allow farmers to react and to amend their plan when necessary.  Part of the plan under this new approach is that farmers will share their experience and findings to assist each other in the delivery of the scheme.

This is a very new approach, which is being delivered on a pilot basis under the current RDP, precisely to test its effectiveness. While ultimately we will only find out how effective this new approach will be over time, I firmly believe that by operating a bottom-up community-based approach like this we can secure real benefits not just for the bird, but for the farmers who manage these lands.

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