Vol. 255 No. 13
asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries (1) the number of employees of his Department working full-time in County Wexford on the land project and (2) the amount of time spent on the beef cattle incentive scheme by each land project officer.
38.
asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries the reason for the long delay in mapping land in County Wexford for the land project.
With your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 37 and 38 together.
The time taken in investigation and planning of land project schemes in County Wexford prior to issue of approvals is not unduly long having regard to the demand for schemes and the nature of the work proposed. Eighteen employees of my Department are working full time on the scheme in the county. In the year 1970, four officers were assigned to the beef incentive scheme for a total of 266 working days. None have to date been assigned to this or other work in 1971.
Can the Minister confirm or deny that people who have applied for land project grants have to wait up to 12 months?
This is not an inordinately long waiting period, especially in County Wexford where there is a great deal of land project activity, where the nature of schemes is complex and they are rather large and the examination of the schemes consequently takes rather longer than normal. But there is no unnecessary time lag in the examination and execution of schemes.
Is it true that if a man applies to have 20 acres of ground mapped at present only some ten acres will be mapped because of the large backlog? Is it not true that because of the shortage of staff and through having to implement the beef subsidy scheme in the last two years the staff are overworked and that lack of personnel has created this problem?
As the reply stated, last year four officers were taken off and put on the beef incentive schemes but there are no officers employed in the beef scheme in 1971 so far.
Is the Minister aware that a pipe-making factory had to go on short time last year and is threatened with closure this year because they are unable to get orders from farmers who cannot get the land mapped and prepared for land reconditioning?
I cannot give any information about that because I am not directly responsible for it but I do know that a new plant for the manufacture of land drainage tiles has gone into production in my own constituency in the past couple of years.
Is the Minister aware that this factory was introduced by the Government for the employment of 22 men while another factory with 35 men is being closed down? Is that how the Minister likes to see these things done —in order to gain something in his own constituency, to close a factory in another?
I am actively conscious of my duties as a Deputy for my own constituency. I am also very well aware that there is an increasing demand for land drainage tiles——
Pipes I am talking about.
Some people call them tiles, but land drainage pipes if the Deputy prefers it that way.
In view of the long delay in Wexford would the Minister consider allocating more staff to map this land in County Wexford and so obviate this long delay?
I do not accept the underlying suggestion in the Deputy's supplementary question that County Wexford is in some way being treated unfairly in this matter. I think the contrary is the case, if all the facts were examined.
One further question. I appreciate that staff in the land project are probably overworked but I think it is not fair to the farmers of Wexford who have to wait 12 months for them and then when they come only half the land is dealt with?
I refer the Deputy to the reply in the form of a tabular statement which I gave to Deputy Corish's question. He requested that I give him the table and I did so. It demonstrated beyond any doubt that a greater number of applications over the past three years are being dealt with.
Could the Minister answer my supplementary question: is it not true that farmers are waiting up to 12 months?
He said that is the usual time.
Is it a fact that these delays have occurred because of the shortage of clerical staff?
I gave details of the staff employed.
