Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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1130. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if it will be ensured that commonage land and land with heather is included as being eligible for payments under the results-based environment-agri pilot project scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21280/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1125 and 1130 together.

The Results Based Environment Agri Pilot Project (REAP) is an ambitious environmental project designed to test the results based approach on a variety of farm types. The project will feed into the development of the next national agri-environment scheme to follow on from GLAS. Similar to the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) projects, REAP is designed to focus on key learning objectives.

The REAP scorecard based system has been developed to assess the sustainability of agricultural grasslands and is not designed to assess other habitat types such as those typically found on commonages and lands containing heather. It is a targeted measure for farmers not currently particpating in other agri-environment schemes.

The REAP project is a short-term transitional measure which uses additional funding I secured in the budget for farmers for this year. This necessitated a quick turnaround on scheme design in order to have the scheme launched, the actions complete by the farmer and money paid to the participating farmers by the end of the year. We are on track to achieve this currently but it is an extremely tight timeframe.

It should be noted that several EIP projects are testing measures/scorecards on these types of land and it is important to avoid duplicating the work of the other projects. For example, EIPs such as the Hen Harrier Project, Pearl Mussel Project, the North Connemara Locally Led Agri-environmental Scheme, A Sustainable Agricultural Plan for the MacGillycuddy Reeks, Sustainable Uplands Agri-environment Scheme SUAS, Inishowen Upland Farmers Project as well as the Blackstairs Farming Futures (BFF) Sustainable Farming Project include these land types.

The commonage action is also being under taken by 9,000 farmers in the GLAS scheme, including those in Tranches 1 and 2 of the scheme who have opted to extend their GLAS contracts and for an additional year in 2021.

I am committed to supporting the long term sustainability of upland hill and commonage farming. These farmers contribute massively in terms of biodiversity and ensuring we have balanced regional development. I, and the rest of the Government, unashamedly support these farmers and will continue to do so in the next CAP.