Addressing a Macra na Feirme information meeting in Carrick-on-Shannon, Leitrim, on Thursday night, Bernie Brennan from the Department of Agriculture told the 400 attendees to only put the number of hectares they have down on their application and not the maximum hectare limit of 90.

“Don’t be doing things to bring attention on yourself. Just be sensible, don’t be doing things that stand out – it may cause a question to be raised by the Department,” Brennan said.

“All I’m asking for is fair play... I don’t want everyone here putting down 90ha (on the national reserve application) if all you have is 20ha or 25ha. It’s those types of things that will cause a light to go off in the Department,” Brennan.

Brennan also confirmed that the Department has received in the region 1,000 applications to the National Reserve and she is expecting another 1,000 before the deadline on 31 March.