Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. We will have a greater opportunity this evening to discuss this matter. I want to raise two issues following on from the response of the Minister of State. There was a lot in her response so I want to consider it in some detail before this evening. It is clear that the new forestry programme 2023 to 2027 cannot be fully operational until it has this clarification in regard to EU state aid approval. It is also clear, or at least it is what I pick up from what the Minister of State has said, that the formal completed application to the Commission has not yet been made. The Minister of State might confirm that because it is pretty serious. We are talking about time constraints and the Minister informed me last week that it will take up to eight months to complete that process, although we hope it will be shorter. Those are the two issues, that the forestry programme for 2023 cannot commence until we have formal EU approval for state aid and that the Minister of State has indicated the formal complete application has not yet been made to the Commission.