David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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223. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the timeline for implementation of the Agricultural Appeals (Amendment) Bill 2020; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24492/20]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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At its meeting of 27 July, Government approved a Memorandum seeking approval to draft an urgent amendment to the Agriculture Appeals Act, 2001 along the lines of the Heads of Bill presented. This will reform the forestry appeals process by bringing it into line with similar planning processes and is one of the commitments in the Programme for Government.

I published the draft Bill for public consultation on 30 July for a four-week period with a closing date on Friday 28th August. My officials are currently reviewing nearly 9,000 submissions on the draft Bill received by the closing date. I am planning to present the final draft Bill to the Houses of the Oireachtas in the next fortnight subject to all necessary preparations being complete.