asked the Minister for Agriculture if he is aware of the difficulty in having whole electoral areas in the country included in the disadvantaged areas scheme; and if he will have the proposal examined to have part of electoral areas included.

The merits of using parts of district electoral divisions as a basis for delineating any further extension of the disadvantaged areas will be considered during the forthcoming review. Any change from using whole DED's will have to be agree to by the EEC Commission.

Does the Parliamentary Secretary agree that it is desirable there should be a change from the DED system, which is unfair? Would he not agree that the Minister should press to have the thing brought down to the level of townlands or even parishes? As the Parliamentary Secretary is aware, a DED can consist of anything between 600 to 1,000 acres and if more than 50 per cent of it is not severely handicapped the DED is out.

This has been brought to my notice. The main argument for changing from DED boundaries is that in theory a more equitable arrangement would then be possible. It is not clear that in practice it would be feasible to reach a solution satisfactory to all areas without creating more problems than would be solved. No matter which area we decide on, whether DED's, parish or county boundaries, there will be the same arguments.

Has the Parliamentary Secretary or the Minister made direct representations to the EEC in relation to this matter since they came into office?

I am not aware of any such representation. I have not got that information.

In view of the fact that this has been raised and that it is an important issue, why has the Parliamentary Secretary or the Minister not raised the matter? At least why has the Parliamentary Secretary not got the information?

If the Deputy will put down a question——

I will.

23.