Bobby Aylward (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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535. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason a townland (details supplied) in the DED of Ballyvool, County Kilkenny, has been removed from the area of natural constraint scheme in the latest review; his plans to re-examine this decision; the appeals mechanism in place for farmers affected by the recent review; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50674/18]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Under the current Rural Development Regulation (and subsequent amendments under the Omnibus Regulation) Member States are required to change the approach to the designation of land under the Areas of Natural Constraints Scheme. To date my Department had been identifying eligible areas using a range of socio economic indicators such as family farm income, population density, percentage of working population engaged in agriculture, and stocking density.

From 2019, eligible areas must instead be designated using the following list of bio-physical criteria:

- Low temperature

- Dryness

- Excess soil moisture

- Limited soil drainage

- Unfavourable texture and stoniness

- Shallow rooting depth

- Poor chemical properties

- Steep slope

This process has now been completed and in recent weeks I have published details in relation to the outcome and have completed a series of consultation meetings with key stakeholders.

The outcome of the review project can be summarised as follows: The vast majority of land that was eligible under the existing Scheme will remain eligible under the new approach. Some 700 townlands that would have previously been eligible are not eligible under the new designation. Farmers impacted financially by this change will receive a degressive phasing out payment in 2019 and 2020. Over 2,000 townlands will now be eligible under the new approach and will be eligible to receive a payment for the first time in 2019.

The townland in question has not met the thresholds set out in the EU Regulations in relation to the above bio-physical criteria. In such cases, it is also possible for townlands to be deemed eligible as "areas of specific constraint". In Ireland's case, we have agreed an approach with the EU Commission to identifying such areas by reference to criteria pertaining to areas of specific environmental importance, townlands facing structural issues relating to farm size and farm fragmentation, and townlands facing constraints relating to the level of permanent grassland cover and field size. The townland in question did not, however, satisfy any of the thresholds in this regard.

In many cases where townlands are not eligible for the 2019 ANC scheme, there may be no direct financial impact on a farmer's 2019 scheme payment. For example, this will be the case where a farmer still holds enough eligible land in other townlands to draw down a full payment under the Scheme. This is the case in this instance.

For any farmer who wishes to appeal the status of a particular townland in the 2019 ANC scheme, an independently chaired appeals process is available. Should a farmer wish to make such an appeal, my Department will provide full information in relation to the data underpinning the status of the townland in order that an appeal can be based on full information. My Department is currently writing to impacted farmers and this letter includes a form to instigate an appeal. The appeals form is also available on www.agriculture.gov.ie.