Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 11 June 2013
496. Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if he will furnish a reply to correspondence (details supplied) which is ongoing with his Department for more than two years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27594/13]
View answerThe individual, referred to in correspondence from the Deputy in February last, applied for compensation under the cessation of turf cutting compensation scheme, administered by my Department. The qualifying criteria for this scheme are that the claimant must have a legal interest in one of the 53 raised bog special areas of conservation – ownership or turbary right; the claimant must have been the owner or entitled to exercise turbary rights on the land in question on 25 May 2010; the turbary on the site must not be exhausted; the claimant must have been cutting turf on the land in question during the relevant five year period; and no turf cutting or associated activity is ongoing on the property.
Following an inspection by officials of my Department of the plot of bog in respect of which the applicant has applied for compensation, it appears that no turf has been cut on this site for many years. I am advised that the applicant claims to have ceased cutting turf on this plot when he joined the rural environment protection scheme administered by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. My Department has been in contact with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine in relation to those who had included bog land within their claims for payment under the rural environment protection scheme. That Department has recently advised my Department that an individual could cut turf for domestic use on the land in question without any reduction being made in rural environment protection scheme payments.
My Department has written to the applicant setting out the position as advised by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and requesting him to clarify his situation.
