Departmental Expenditure.

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 14 December 2006

Thursday, 14 December 2006

Ceisteanna (321, 322)

Joan Burton

Ceist:

317 Ms Burton asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the annual cost of the afforestation grants for conifers and broadleaves grant scheme, on an annual basis from the date the scheme started; if she will quantify the activity generated by the scheme for each year for which figures are supplied; the smallest, the average and the largest individual payment made in each year under the scheme; the projected cost of the scheme in 2007; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43411/06]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Agriculture and Food (Mary Coughlan)

The current scheme was introduced as part of the Rural Development Programme 2000-2006. The details requested by the Deputy are shown in the following table. Activity is presented in terms of hectares planted.

Year	Grant	Hectares	Highest Payment	Lowest Payment	Average Payment
	€m
2000	33.7	15,696	270,600.67	12.69	22,627.24
2001	35.6	15,463	222,861.89	387.59	24,602.97
2002	35.9	15,054	154,654.33	539.63	23,619.19
2003	23.5	9,097	117,777.00	838.03	22,833.62
2004	25.2	9,739	241,207.70	482.50	22,158.21
2005	26.9	10,096	158,172.16	586.00	21,899.75

An amount of approximately €31m will be provided for the payment of first Grants for afforestation in 2007.

Joan Burton

Ceist:

318 Ms Burton asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the annual cost of the farm waste management grant scheme, on an annual basis from the date the scheme started; if she will quantify the activity generated by the scheme for each year for which figures are supplied; the smallest, the average and the largest individual payment made in each year under the scheme; the projected cost of the scheme in 2007; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43412/06]

Minister for Agriculture and Food (Mary Coughlan)

The Scheme of Investment Aid in Farm Waste Management provided for in the National Development Plan 2000-2006 was introduced on 1 February 2001. This Scheme is a sub-Measure under the Regional Operational Programmes for the Border, Midlands and Western Region and the Southern and Eastern Region. A revised scheme was introduced at the end of March this year.

The following is the information requested by the Deputy:

Year	Expenditure	No. of Applications	Smallest Payment	Average Payment	Largest Payment
	€		€	€	€
2001	153,000	2,454	600	3,000	7,000
2002	9,399,000	2,997	600	7,500	20,000
2003	20,607,000	1,515	400	10,000	28,000
2004	16,655,000	3,074	500	10,000	41,250
2005	19,097,000	3,075	500	10,000	41,250
2006 (to end Sept)	15,743,000	9,760	500	10,000	41,250

The financial allocation for the Farm Waste Management Scheme in 2007 will be indicated in the Revised Book of Estimates to be published in February 2008. The Scheme will close for new applications at the end of 2006.