Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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82. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when decisions will be issued to farmers who have applied for forestry grants and who are awaiting assessment of the possible effects of afforestation on hen harrier habitats; the reason for the delay; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35062/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht is currently developing a Threat Response Plan (TRP) for Hen Harriers. That Department has also established an Inter-Departmental Steering Group, incorporating representatives from key Departments, to assist in the development of the Plan. The TRP is focusing on a number of key pressures which have been identified as impacting on the conservation of the species, the three main pressures, forestry, intensive agriculture and windfarm development. In this regard the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht has established a Consultative Committee, comprising relevant representatives from the forestry, agriculture and wind farm sectors, to contribute to the formulation of the Plan and discussions are now progressing, with further information to be provided by the results of the 2015 National Hen Harrier Survey. The intention of the TRP will be to bring clarity to farmers, forest owners and other landowners about future land management activities in the SPAs, by setting out the measures identified as being necessary to preserve, maintain or re-establish suitable Hen Harrier habitats. In relation to forestry, it is envisaged that the TRP will determine, inter alia, the circumstances in which afforestation, if any, might be accommodated in Hen Harrier SPAs without impacting on the conservation of the species.  In the meantime, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) is not in a position to grant approval for any afforestation projects in those areas, until the TRP has been completed and measures identified as being necessary to preserve, maintain or re-establish suitable Hen Harrier habitats have been determined.