18 Mr. Collins asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the plans, if any, he has to ensure that funds available for the rural environment protection scheme will be drawn down in view of the fact that only £7.5 million of the £230 million allocated has been taken up in the first instance. [11273/95]

73 Mr. Connolly asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the plans, if any, he has to ensure that funds available for the rural environment protection scheme will be drawn down in view of the fact that only £7.5 million of the £230 million allocated has been taken up in the first instance. [11274/95]

77 Miss Quill asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the measures, if any, he intends to adopt to ensure that the rural environmental protection scheme is more fully taken up by farmers and that moneys available from the EU are fully drawn down; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11257/95]

87 Mr. Cullen asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the plans, if any, he has to ensure that funds available for the rural environment protection scheme will be drawn down in view of the fact that only £7.5 million of the £230 million allocated has been taken up in the first instance. [11276/95]

198 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the sum to be returned to Europe as a result of the rural environment protection scheme which will not be fully taken up due to a shortfall in funding for the control of farmyard pollution scheme. [11419/95]

I propose to take Questions Nos. 18, 73, 77, 87 and 198 together.

I accept that the initial take-up and expenditure under the rural environment protection scheme has been lower than expected. This was largely due to the time needed for the preliminary work required to fully implement such a major scheme. The scheme is now operating well and applications to date indicate that forecasts should be met through probably a year later than originally expected. The European Commission has been asked to approve some changes to the scheme which I hope will make it more attractive to farmers.