Ulick Burke (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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Question 11: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if charter of rights commitments have been honoured in relation to the approval of work completed and the payment of grants in County Wicklow; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7044/08]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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The Farmers' Charter 2005-2007 set out the various deadlines for processing of applications and the issuing of payments to farmers under the schemes operated by my Department. My Department makes every effort to meet such deadlines. However, I accept that, in the case of applications under the Farm Waste and Farm Improvement Schemes, these deadlines in some instances have not been met in the Wicklow area.

This was due to particular circumstances arising in the Agricultural Environment & Structures (AES) office in County Wicklow resulting in delays in the processing of the 874 applications received under the Farm Waste Management Scheme and the 262 applications under the Farm Improvement Scheme. To address this difficulty, a number of officers have been redeployed to the Wicklow area in recent weeks to alleviate the pressure which has been encountered in that office. The situation in Wicklow, of course, continues to be monitored on an ongoing basis.