Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
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878. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will give consideration to proposals by an organisation (details supplied) in the mid-term review of the forestry programme from 2014 to 2020. [45674/17]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Some changes in my Departments afforestation scheme are being considered as part of the Mid-Term Review of the Forestry Programme 2014 -2020. My Department is involved in detailed discussions with stakeholders on it, including on the issues raised by the Deputy. Obviously any proposals must have regard to the available budget and the liability accruing to the State in future years. I expect that the Review will be published in the coming weeks.

In relation to the Deputy’s proposal to reintroduce the farmer premium differential it is important to note that the non-farmer category also includes recently retired farmers and the family members of existing farmers. For this reason I am satisfied that the vast bulk of the money remains in rural Ireland. Reinstating the farmer/non-farmer forest premium differential is not an option currently being considered by the Department.

The Forestry Programme 2014-2020 will continue to pay the same premium to all landowners to ensure that the maximum amount of land is available for afforestation. All lands proposed for afforestation are assessed to the same silvicultural and environmental criteria irrespective of who owns the lands.

On the subject of ABE’s, I believe the existing provisions to pay landowners for areas left unplanted for environmental reasons are proportionate and adequate.

Under the current Environmental Requirements for Afforestation, between 10-15% of the afforestation site must be treated with particular regard to biodiversity, comprising a combination of open spaces and retained habitats and this includes setbacks beside habitats, watercourses, setbacks beside public roads and archaeological monuments that are not planted.

Up to 15% of this land set aside as Areas for Biodiversity Enhancement or ABE’s as they are known are fully eligible for grant and premium payments.

Where the area within an application has many areas not planted for environmental reasons, the Department under the afforestation scheme is limited to only paying on that amount of the unplanted area that amounts to 15% of the total project area. Situations do exist where, due to multiple sensitivities, the amount of area eligible for payment may exceed the 15% eligible area threshold, resulting in a landowner receiving a payment based on an area less than the gross area of the project. However, these represent a minority of cases and often, with good design, these ineligible areas can be excluded from the afforestation application and left as part of the open farm enterprise.