Joe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael)
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77. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the logic behind and reason for point 14.2 in the afforestation grant and premium scheme 2014 to 2020, especially as it pertains to the potential recoupment of establishment grants; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43141/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Point 14.2 states that the Department will recover any undue payment from the applicant. When an applicant wishes to establish a plantation under the Afforestation Grant and Premium Scheme he applies to the Minister for approval under the Scheme. The contract under the Afforestation Grant and Premium Scheme is solely between the applicant and my Department.

The applicant employs a forester to undertake afforestation work on his/her behalf and this includes submitting an accurate claim on the applicant’s behalf. This forester is not a party to the contract under the Afforestation Grant and Premium Scheme. Similarly, the contract to undertake afforestation work and to prepare and submit claims is a separate contract between the owner and his/her forester. My Department is not a party to this contract; and any matter arising under it, such as potentially inadequate work (e.g. planting fewer trees than there should be, preparing an inaccurate claim, etc.), is a matter for the landowner and the forester to resolve.

As the Department’s contract under the Afforestation Grant and Premium Scheme is with the applicant, all money paid under the contract is to benefit the applicant. Under this contract the applicant gains a forestry plantation as an asset as a result of my Department’s approval of a forestry establishment grant; thus s/he directly benefits from the grant payment.

Any money paid by an applicant to the forester or forestry company is a matter between those parties. This includes where grants may be mandated by the client for direct payment to the forester. A mandate between the applicant and the forester is an instruction by the applicant to the Department to redirect his/her payment directly to the forester - the applicant is still the beneficiary under the Afforestation Scheme contract. This means that, while any debt arising under an Afforestation Scheme contract is a matter between the Minister and the applicant, any debt arising under any contract between the applicant and his/her forester is a matter between those parties.