John Brassil (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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271. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if she will liaise with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to review a more workable system to allow farmers in designated SAC areas who are not in REPS or GLAS to farm their lands sustainably; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39157/18]

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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Ireland is bound by the EU Habitats and Birds Directives, as transposed in the 2011 Natural Habitats Regulations, and must therefore protect habitats and species in the sites for which they are designated. I understand that it is a condition of the Basic Payment Scheme that farmers must be compliant with the requirements of the Habitats and Birds Directives.

In order to avoid both accidental or deliberate damage in designated sites, it is necessary to have a system by which potentially damaging activities require consent before they can be carried out. This consent is required from me as Minister or, as appropriate, from another licensing or permitting authority. Each regulatory authority must take into account the requirements of the Habitats and Birds Directives before consenting to an activity, as is the case of the approval of GLAS plans by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. In some cases, planning permissions may be required.

Where consents are required of my Department, these are referred to as Activities Requiring Consent. The Activities Requiring Consent are most often applicable to new activities, or an intensification of existing activities, but this is not always the case. Depending on the scale and type of activity proposed, my Department's staff may be able to make a determination on consent or may require further information to make such a determination. This is not a matter of qualification or experience - it is incompatible with the Directives, and Irish law, to make such determinations without adequate information.

This matter is one of the subjects under discussion in a series of meetings currently underway between my officials and the farming organisations. The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine participates in these meetings.