Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Agriculture Appeals Office is an independent office established in 2002 to provide an appeals service to farmers who are dissatisfied with decisions concerning designated schemes operated by my Department. The Agriculture Appeals Act 2001, along with the agriculture appeals regulations 2002, as amended, set down the functions of the director and the appeals officers, the decisions that may be appealed and the procedures to be followed in respect of appeals.

A total of 638 appeals were received in 2017 compared with 598 in 2016, an increase of 6.7%. In 2018, the number of agriculture appeals received at the end of quarter one was 106. This is lower than the number received in quarter one of 2017 and quarter one of 2016. The current appeals legislation provides for reviews of the decisions of appeals officers. In 2015 a total of 21 requests for reviews of appeals officer decisions were received by the office. In 2016, 45 such requests were submitted and in 2017 a further 41 requests for reviews were submitted. Requests for reviews are generally dealt with in order of receipt. A total of 18 reviews of appeals officer decisions were completed in 2017.

The Agriculture Appeals Office was restructured in 2017 and two additional staff were assigned to the office. The administrative function of the office has been split in two and a new full time support unit has been established to deal with the Aquaculture Licences Appeals Board, ALAB and a full time higher executive officer was assigned to manage agriculture appeals. The legislation states that only the director may revise the decision of an appeals officer if it is determined that there is an error in fact or in law. The Act provides that a deputy director may be appointed to cover the director in his or her absence. My Department is exploring options to appoint a deputy director of appeals.

The report of the review of the Agriculture Appeals Act, 2001 and the operation of the Agriculture Appeals Office was received by my Department in December 2017 and was published in February 2018 for stakeholder consultation. The recommendations contained in the report of the review committee are currently under consideration by my Department, particularly with regard to legislative changes that may be required to give effect to them. My Department avails of the workforce planning process to continually assess its business needs and I am confident the workforce planning process will ensure that sufficient resources continue to be available to the Agriculture Appeals Office, even with changing demands.

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