Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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239. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine further to Parliamentary Question No. 149 of 12 October 2017, the exact amendment process involved with the European Commission for seeking a revision to the 20% rule under the forestry programme 2014 to 2020. [45340/17]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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The legal basis for the current afforestation programme is the European Commission’s State aid approval of Ireland’s Forestry Programme 2014 – 2020. Under Article 108 (3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), any plans to alter aid must be notified to the Commission. Removal of the 20% rule could be considered an alteration to an existing plan which could affect the Commission's initial evaluation of the afforestation scheme in terms of its compatibility with the common market. Whether or not this is the case will most likely be determined in the context of Ireland’s compliance with minimum environmental requirements as set out in paragraph 509 of the European Union Guidelines for State aid in the agricultural and forestry sectors and in rural areas 2014 to 2020.

My Department has engaged in a process with the Commission on this issue and a further bilateral is planned for November in Brussels.