Tom Moffatt
Question:13 Dr. Moffatt asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the average length of delay for approval of afforestation grants for individual applicants.[3490/95]
Written Answers. - Afforestation Grants.
The period between receipt in my Department of an application for inspection of lands prior to planting varies depending on the overall number of applications on hand and the extent to which bodies external to the Department must be consulted to examine environmental aspects. At present my Department has a target of two months for processing cases which do not have environmental constraints.
As a result of the introduction of a new CAP afforestation programme in 1994 the number of applications has increased by approximately 31 per cent from 3,338 to 4,373. To enable more efficient processing of this higher volume of applications, a new system for administering applications will be in place shortly. This will result in approvals issuing a maximum of one month after initial application. Where there are environmental considerations approval may be somewhat longer.