Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Under the cessation of turf cutting compensation scheme, three types of legal agreements have been and are being issued by my Department. The first is a final legal agreement for qualifying turf cutters who are signing up to the annual payment of €1,500, index-linked, for 15 years. The second is a relocation interim legal agreement for qualifying turf cutters who have expressed an interest in relocation but no relocation site is currently available for them. This relocation interim legal agreement provides for the payment of €1,500, index-linked, or a supply of 15 tonnes of cut turf per annum, while these applicants are awaiting relocation to non-designated bogs. The third is a relocation final legal agreement. This agreement has been issued to qualifying turf cutters where a site has been assessed as suitable for relocation and is ready, or can be made ready, for use for domestic turf cutting.

Turf cutters who sign and return the applicable legal agreement to my Department will also receive a once-off incentive payment of €500.

A total of 1,711 legal agreements have been issued and my Department is continuing to issue agreements to qualifying applicants. Applicants have been requested to return the completed legal agreements within four months of the date of issue. A total of 1,209 legal agreements have been returned to my Department thus far. The majority of legal agreements returned are final legal agreements as most of these agreements are from qualifying turf cutters who have opted to receive the annual payment under the scheme. To date, in the region of 1,050 once-off incentive payments of €500 have been made to applicants in respect of these legal agreements.

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