Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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639. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the reason the Middle Shannon Callows special protection area, SPA, is not eligible for the National Parks and Wildlife Service corncrake farm plan scheme, CFPS, despite this area being a special protection area; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [49517/18]

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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Between 2008 and 2014, my Department provided approximately €2.5 m to 136 farmers in the Middle Shannon Callows SPA (Site Code 004096) to maintain habitat for the Corncrake under the National Parks and Wildlife Service farm plan scheme.  This is in addition to schemes administered by the Department of Agriculture for Corncrake in the Shannon Callows.  

I am advised that, despite these initiatives, the last confirmed record of a Corncrake in the Middle Shannon Callows SPA was in the summer of 2014. Like other agri-environmental schemes including GLAS, the NPWS Farm Plan Scheme is targeted towards areas where the birds exist, and where there will be value for money for the taxpayer.  

Should any Corncrakes return to the Shannon Callows to breed, my Department will offer financial support under the Corncrake Grant Scheme to the landowners/farmers involved, which would cater for any necessary delayed mowing dates to allow the bird to rear its young. This scheme is currently available wherever Corncrakes breed. 

Should a population begin to re-establish on the Shannon Callows, my Department will review the targeting of the Farm Plan Scheme and the application of agri-environmental measures.