I am aware of the situation regarding field staff at my Department's Portlaoise office.
The staffing situation, not only at Portlaoise but at many other Department offices, is the subject of continuous and ongoing review by my Department's management to ensure that, within resources available, the best possible service is provided and, in particular, that applications are processed and grants paid with the minimum of delay.
Following my recent announcement that, due to the provision of insufficient finance under the Structural Funds, I was forced to suspend acceptance of applications under the control of farmyard pollution scheme, I have made arrangements for the setting up of a consultative group involving officials of my Department, the farm organisations and other interested parties to seek to establish priority categories and enable as many as possible of the 12,000 applicants under the scheme currently on hand to proceed with essential work.
Such priority categories could, in my view, include applications in counties where processing of applications has been particularly affected by Department staff shortages. I have asked the group to report as a matter of urgency and by the end of May at the latest.
To ensure that the suspension of the CFP scheme will have minimal impact on participants in the rural environment protection scheme all REPS participants, approved on or before 27 April 1995 who applied for grant aid under the CFP scheme, will have valid applications approved.