Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On the issue of forestry, there have been fewer expressions of interest coming forward and there is no doubt that the licensing situation has had a significant impact. The backlog should never have reached its current level, as has been well documented in contributions in both Houses of the Oireachtas by myself and the Minister of State, Senator Hackett. An immense amount of effort, time and resources have been invested recently to try to address the undoubted difficulties in the sector, including the real crunch in supply. There are approximately 4,400 licence applications on hand in the Department. Approximately 2,000 of them require ecological input but the remainder do not. The primary delays lie with those applications that require the ecological input. The problem stems from a court case in the middle of last year, on which we received further legal advice in September of last year. That advice changed the way in which licence applications were dealt with, particularly with regard to the need for more ecological input. This time last year we had only two ecologists in the Department but now we have 16 and that number will be increased further. There have also been significant and ongoing increases in the number of forestry inspectors attached to the section. This is leading to significant volumes of licences coming back into the system but they cannot come too soon and the pressure must be maintained.

The changes we made a number of weeks ago to the legislation on forestry licensing, with the co-operation of all parties in the House, have been a significant help in this regard and have streamlined the licensing process and the appeals process. The forestry appeals committee, which could only sit in plenary session before this to hear one application at a time, is now able to subdivide into four subcommittees, increasing its capacity to deal with licensing also.

I would not for a second diminish the challenge that has arisen as a result of the licences, and the Minister of State, Senator Hackett, officials in the Department and I attach absolute importance and urgency to addressing this challenge and the backlog that arose during late summer and early autumn of last year as a result of the court outcomes. This will continue. I understand the pressure the sector is under, and we are doing all we can to get volume back into the system to ensure sawmills can operate and forestry contractors have work ahead of them again. The foot will be kept to the pedal to reap the benefits of the additional staff and the streamlining of the licensing system by bringing additional forestry volume through in terms of new harvesting material and addressing the backlog for thinnings, road openings and afforestation

I will now deal with Deputy Carthy's questions. With regard to ensuring the funding for TAMS will not be lost, I assure him it will be maintained. As he outlined in his response, 12-month licences and permissions are given within which people can do their work and come back and draw it down. This work has been ongoing. It means there is movement between years and there is a 12-month window. Every year, there is a moving of funds to ensure the annual accounting period is accounted for within the 12-month rolling period that farmers have for the applications they make. The current tranche closes in mid-January, and I will be making decisions on the next tranche in the weeks ahead with regard to any changes that will be made to the eligibility criteria and what type of investments are eligible, alongside announcing when the next tranche will be opening and closing. The issue with regard to the pig and poultry sectors is certainly something that is under my consideration in that regard.

With regard to farm payments, we have a strong record on ensuring payments are paid promptly at European level and we are top of the league in this regard, which is crucial because it is such an important aspect of farmers' incomes. We have to do everything that can be done as a State to ensure the payment system runs efficiently and that farmers get their payments in time. For example, under EU rules and the regulation, the earliest the basic payment scheme can be paid is 16 October, and for the balancing payment it is 1 December. These are the dates we work to every year. This year, a record number of farmers, at 97%, received the 70% advance payment at the start of October, and over recent days the balancing payments have issued to farmers. A lot of effort has gone into this. It is the highest number of farmers who have been paid on time what was due to them. It was a very strong effort and it is something I very much prioritise and put a strong value on as Minister.

To touch on other payments made over the course of the year, 44,000 farmers have been paid €154 million through GLAS and another 3,000 farmers received €3.7 million through GLAS plus.. With regard to TAMS, €66.5 million was paid out this year. The beef finishers payment has seen 27,000 farmers avail of €46 million and 24,000 farmers were able to avail of €40 million through the basic payment scheme, which is a total in these schemes of €317 million. With regard to the basic payment scheme, so far we have seen 121,000 farmers paid €1.13 billion, which is 99% of eligible applicants. This is a very successful outcome and particularly important in the run-up to the back end of the year. As the Deputy pointed out, it is a pressured time with stock housed, bills starting to flow in and, of course, family and Christmas pressures. It is important that payments flow efficiently, effectively and on time in advance of this.

The Deputy also mentioned the issue of forestry and I covered some of this with regard to the Chairman's remarks. The Deputy mentioned the issue with marginal land and what the future of the forestry programme will look like. Certainly, we will consult widely on the future direction of forestry, and the Minister of State, Senator Hackett, recently established a new stakeholder group that met for the first time last week. It is representative of all those with an interest in forestry, including farmers, industry and NGOs. Certainly, the issue of marginal land will be something that gets discussed at the forum.

We have to look at forestry with regard to the great benefit it can be to farmers as an industry and a core income for many who are in it in a heavy way. It also has the potential to contribute further to average farmer income in terms of additional forestry complementing farm enterprises. There is a lot of potential as to how it can contribute to carbon capture, climate change objectives, biodiversity improvements and addressing the decline we have seen in recent years and decades. This is certainly where we are at. This year's afforestation levels are not where we want to be and trying to address this, increase it significantly and meet our targets on afforestation in the years ahead is something the Government takes seriously.

The Deputy mentioned the basic payment scheme with regard to its categorisation under Covid funding. This is how it was categorised for the year ahead, and we are obviously in a transition year. My absolute focus as Minister is on ensuring that I deliver funding for farmers and that I deliver to beef and suckler farmers in particular, in every way I can. Obviously this year there was also the beef finishers payment as a result of Covid market impacts. There is no doubt that Covid, like Brexit, has had impacts on markets and prices. I am not especially picky about where money comes from as long as it goes to farmers and is helping to ensure farming incomes are supported. That will always be my priority and objective. Obviously, how I as Minister support our beef and suckler farmers will be central to how we develop the plan for the next Common Agricultural Policy, and this is very important to me. It will be a key priority for me in terms of ensuring the support is there in future.

As I outlined in my remarks, the World Food Programme is a very valuable programme that does tremendous work in very challenged areas of the world. Its effectiveness and impact can be reflected in the fact it is a Nobel laureate this year and is something with which the Department engages closely in terms of updates and assessments on the impact of the funding we give.

The tri-annual funding commitments we make are valued and important to the programme. As a country, we should reflect positively on our contribution.

With regard to Teagasc students, I have been working closely with Teagasc over the past number of weeks on providing additional support to Teagasc students proportionate to the support that is being given to other third level students through the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science and the budgetary allocation to that Department. There was no specific budget line for Teagasc students but I wanted to ensure it would be there. I have worked, and continue to work, with Teagasc to ensure that will be the case and I hope to be a in a position to announce the support that will be available to them in a short period.

The Deputy indicated that he is feeling particularly positive today in some of his contributions. I do not blame him because there have been many positive outcomes from the budget. I am working hard to support the farming community - I am glad the Deputy recognises that – not just with regard to Teagasc students but also through the many significant payments I have been able to deliver for farmers and the support I have given them. They are a top priority for me and I hope to continue that in the time ahead. I thank him for his contributions.