Séamus Kirk (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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99. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he intends to fund the development of forestry out of Pillar 2 funding under the Common Agriculture Policy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39531/13]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The current forestry programme is funded under EU State Aid rules as set out in the “Community Guidelines for State Aid in the Agriculture and Forestry Sector 2007 – 2013”. These rules are currently being redrafted as part of the EU Commission’s modernisation of State Aid controls. These new rules have not yet been issued by the EU Commission and therefore it is difficult to say at this stage whether these rules will suit Ireland’s situation with regard to funding forestry for the period 2014-2020. I have not therefore made any decision at this stage with regard to how forestry should be funded in the future.