Written Answers Nos. 261-276
261. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when a 2020 area of natural constraint overclaim refund payment will issue to a farmer (details supplied) in County Kerry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13593/21]
View answerThe person named applied under the 2020 Areas of Natural Constraints (ANC) scheme on 6th May 2020. Based on the information available to the Department at the time of application, it was determined that the person named had made an overclaim. This penalty was applied to the payment which issued from my Department on 15th January 2021.
Following a review of the overclaim based on additional information provided by the person named, this penalty has now been removed and the money has been refunded by my Department.
262. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when a 2016 area of natural constraint payment will issue to a farmer (details supplied) in County Kerry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13594/21]
View answerAn application under the 2016 Areas of Natural Constraints (ANC) Scheme was received from the person named on 4th May 2016.
In order to qualify for payment, participants were required to meet minimum requirements regarding stocking density and retention. As the person named used equines to make up his stocking requirements, it was necessary for him to demonstrate that his premises are registered with the Department as an equine premises.
This person named has recently demonstrated this and the 2016 ANC payment has now issued from my Department.
263. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when a 2020 area of natural constraint payment will issue to a farmer (details supplied) in County Kerry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13595/21]
View answerAn application to participate in the 2020 Areas of Natural Constraints (ANC) scheme was submitted by the person named on 30th April 2020.
Under the terms and conditions of the scheme, participants are required to meet minimum requirements concerning stocking density and retention. Additional documentation in the form of a flock register and equine passports were requested by my Department from the person named to confirm that they had met these requirements. These documents have been provided to my Department, following which my Department has been able to confirm that the person named has met the minimum requirements.
I am pleased to confirm that payment for the 2020 ANC scheme has now issued to the person named.
264. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when a 2020 area of natural constraint payment will issue to a farmer (details supplied) in County Kerry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13596/21]
View answerAn application under the 2020 Areas of Natural Constraints (ANC) scheme was submitted by the person named on 27th March 2020.
Under the terms and conditions of the scheme, participants were required to meet minimum requirements concerning stocking density and retention. Additional documentation in the form of a flock register and equine passports were required by my Department from the person named to confirm that they had met these requirements.
These documents have subsequently been provided and the Department has been able to confirm that the person named has now met the minimum requirements. Payment for the 2020 ANC scheme will issue shortly.
265. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when a 2020 basic payment and area of natural constraint payment for a commonage will issue to a farmer (details supplied) in County Kerry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13597/21]
View answerThe person named submitted a Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) application in 2020.
Their BPS application contained a commonage parcel. As a result of standard administrative checks carried out by my Department, it was found that the specific commonage parcel was overclaimed.
In that context, a full review of all evidence submitted to support the various applicants' claims on the specific commonage parcel in question was required. That review is now being finalised and my Department will be contacting each of the applicants shortly advising them of the outcome of the review. It is envisaged payment will issue to those with a right to claim the commonage parcel in the coming weeks.
In December 2020, a BPS and ANC payment was made to the named person on the non-commonage parcels on their 2020 BPS application.
266. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when a 2020 GLAS payment for a commonage parcel will issue to a farmer (details supplied) in County Kerry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13598/21]
View answerThe person named was approved into GLAS I with a contract commencement date of 1st October 2015 and has received payments for scheme years 2015 - 2019 and the 2020 advance payment,
The Department is aware of an issue which has delayed the payment of a commonage claim for 2020 and is currently working to resolve it as soon as possible. Once this issue is resolved and the claim has cleared all validation checks, the payment will be processed.
267. Deputy Paul Kehoe asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of applications for the EMFF investment for aquaculture enterprises under the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund Programme from County Wexford (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13628/21]
View answerMy Department's €240 million European Maritime and Fisheries Fund Programme 2014-20 is the principal source of financial supports for our seafood sector. The Programme supports a wide variety of measures, including capital investment, innovation, professional advisory services, marketing and training, among others. The EMFF Sustainable Aquaculture Scheme supports capital investment by licensed aquaculture enterprises to sustainably grow production and reduce environmental impact of aquaculture, together with costs of organic certification of aquaculture production.
On 5th March 2021, I announced grant awards of €1.8 million to 28 aquaculture enterprises, supporting total investment of €4.5 million. There was one application made from Co Wexford from Fitzpatrick Oysters Ltd, which was successful in receiving EMFF grant funding of €31,200 to support an overall investment of €78,000 in the purchase of farm equipment.
268. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if consultations will take place with an organisation (details supplied) in order for it to consider the provision of electronic payment facilities for farmers who are selling stock given the absence of an electronic funds transfer arrangement which will put farmers who do not have easy access to lodgement facilities for cheques at a disadvantage; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13722/21]
View answerThe matter referred to is an operational commercial matter which neither I, as Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine nor my Department, have any role in.
269. Deputy Paul Kehoe asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the cost of running the forestry division in 2018, 2019 and 2020; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13790/21]
View answerI have provided in the attached table an estimate of the pay costs of the three forestry divisions in my Department. The figures represent a snapshot of the staffing complement in each of the years in question.
Please note that the number of ecologists refers only to those employed directly by the Department at the end of 2020.
270. Deputy Paul Kehoe asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the additional cost of external ecologists hired by the Forest Service; the agreed duration of their contracts; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13791/21]
View answer271. Deputy Paul Kehoe asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if the external ecologist engaged by the Forest Service are operating to set targets, piece rate or hourly rate; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13792/21]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 270 and 271 together.
My Department has engaged external contracts as they are essential to delivery of our licencing targets. The ecologists are part of the overall licencing team which also includes archaeologists and forestry inspectors and administrative staff. The targets set for this team collectively are the overall licencing targets for the Department which are 4,500 new licences this year.
The Department signed a one year contract on the 17th June 2020 with an option to extend for a further two years. Under this contract, five full time ecologists were made available to the Department. In the event that this contract runs for three years, the total potential cost of the contract would be €1.5m, based on a per diem rate for each ecologist.
Further contracts were signed on 12th February 2021 in relation to five independent ecologists with each contract expiring on the 31st December 2021 with no option to extend. These contracts did not stipulate the provision of full-time services and, therefore, it is difficult to calculate the full cost of these contracts over their duration. However, the average daily rate is €330 and it is expected that some 600 days will be provided by these independent ecologists for the duration of their contracts. Therefore, the estimated costs is in the region of €200,000.
272. Deputy Sean Sherlock asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of applications for afforestation that have been submitted into the Forest Service that are still waiting for approval; the number of hectares this equals; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13803/21]
View answerForestry will play an important role in meeting our environmental objectives under the Climate Action Plan and, in terms of biodiversity, as outlined in the Programme for Government. It is for this reason my Department will be focusing on afforestation applications in the coming weeks. I am mindful of the seasonality associated with afforestation and, therefore, while other forestry licence types will continue to issue, afforestation will be the priority.
Forestry licences continue to be received and issued daily. To 5th March, the area covered by issued afforestation licences was 903ha. There are currently 1,500 applications within my Department’s system, covering 9,600ha, which are at various stages of processing, from the initial application steps, to ready for decision.
In addition, there is another 4,500ha already approved and available to plant. It is up to landowners to decide to plant, once they have received approval to do so, but I would encourage anyone that has approval to arrange financial approval, which is a straightforward process completed by their registered forester and to commence planting.
I recently announced Project Woodland on foot of receiving the Jo O'Hara report and I have moved immediately to implement this. I am confident that the changes presented in there to processes both within my Department and the independent Forestry Appeals Committee, will bear fruit, particularly to give confidence to applicants and potential applicants, that they can receive a timely decision on their afforestation application.
273. Deputy Sean Sherlock asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of applications for afforestation that are with the Forestry Appeals Committee at present; the number of hectares this equals; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13804/21]
View answerThe Forestry Appeals Committee (FAC) is operationally independent of my Department in the performance of its functions and the scheduling of appeal hearings is a matter for the Chairman of the FAC. I am informed that that there are currently 82 licence appeal applications on hand in respect of the afforestation category representing 930 hectares. Three of these have been heard and are awaiting a decision and 23 are scheduled to be heard by 15th April, 2021.
The FAC hear both oral and non-oral hearing appeals and are currently hearing appeals remotely due to COVID-19 restrictions. The FAC is hearing on average 20 cases per week whereas they were hearing eight per week before the introduction of three new committees in November 2020 New appeals continue to be submitted with 74 received since the introduction of the Forestry legislation. The FAC currently has 298 cases on hand, of which 101 are scheduled for hearing, 46 are already heard and a decision is awaited the final 151 have yet to be scheduled.
It is extremely important that applicants and their forestry companies notify the FAC in advance on appeals which are scheduled so that appeals are only heard on licences which are genuinely going to proceed if granted.
274. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if products will be eligible for EU market support measures in the event of such supports being activated by the European Commission (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13822/21]
View answerCommon Agricultural Policy (CAP) market measures are part of the common market organisation regulation (Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013), which lays out the framework under which EU agriculture works within the single market. Market intervention measures are funded through the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF).
Common Organisation of the Markets (CMO) in agricultural products rules pertaining to market measures no longer apply to Northern Ireland. The effect of this is that Northern Irish dairy products are not eligible for the purposes of market supports under the CMO regulation.
Since the end of the Brexit transition period on 31st December 2020, the following situation applies:
- products of animal origin from Northern Ireland are not eligible for market measures, including intervention or private storage aid, in Ireland, and;
- butter or Skimmed Milk Powder produced in Ireland from milk originating from Northern Ireland is not eligible for market measures, including intervention and/or private storage aid.
275. Deputy Cathal Crowe asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he and his officials will provide a response in relation to a tree felling case for a person (details supplied) in County Clare. [13831/21]
View answerThe Deputy refers to a conviction secured at Ennis District Court on 11th December 2020 against the person named, which included a fine of €600. The prosecution was brought under Section 17(6) of the Forestry Act, 2014 as the defendant had felled 16.82 hectares of woodland in the Burren area, without a valid tree felling licence.
The outcome of the case included the issuing of an order, which stated that the lesser area of 12.67ha was to be fenced off, grazing animals were to be excluded and natural regeneration was to be facilitated. These works are to be completed by the end of March 2021.
The site will be inspected by a Department Forestry Inspector to ensure the works have been carried out and, from time to time, to monitor the regeneration of the woodland concerned.
276. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development when the next tender for air services to the Aran Islands will be sought; if it is planned to seek tenders on a marginal cost basis as part of this tender process for limited services to Inishbofin Island from Aerphort Chonamara in view of the excellent infrastructure in place there for such a service; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13781/21]
View answerAs the Deputy will be aware, a subsidised air service is in operation between Aerfort Chonamara and the Aran Islands.
Work is underway within my Department to develop the new PSO tender documents, with a view to tenders being sought in the coming months.
There are no proposals to include an air service to Inishbofin as part of the request for tenders.
