asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries if he is aware of the very long delay in the inspection of works for grants under the land project; and if he will consider the appointment of extra staff to deal with the back-log.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Land Project.
7.
I am aware that in recent months there has been a substantial increase in the number of applications being received under the land project and that there is delay in inspections for the issue of approved schemes of work. The appointment of extra staff is one of the measures being examined in a general review of the operation of the land project which I am now carrying out.
I was in one of the offices recently and I was told it would be six months before an inspection could be carried out. As I have stated before, the work of the land project is very important in my area and in the west of Ireland generally.
Six months is short in comparison with the delay in other areas which sometimes is up to 18 months. This is a matter about which I am particularly concerned. However, Deputies should know that there has been a very substantial increase in the number of applications. In the first five months of this year there has been an increase of 1,000 applications. I could give a list of the approvals; there has been quite an improvement in the approvals during this time also.
The reason for the increase was that people were afraid that when we went into the EEC land project work might be dropped. If they could get an assurance in this matter it might ease the situation.
Is not the long delay of 18 months a recurring problem? It is cured for a while but then it seems to drop back again. I would ask the Minister to keep that in mind when he is examining the matter.
The Deputy probably knows this is something we cannot improve overnight. However, I have taken whatever steps I could to shorten procedures and I have done everything possible to expedite execution of these schemes. At the same time, if new staff have to be appointed it takes time to train them.