Carol Nolan (Laois-Offaly, Independent)
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961. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of submissions made to the consultation on the review of the European Union (Birds and Natural Habitats) (Sea-fisheries) Regulations 2013, SI 29/013; the outcome of the consultation process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37887/20]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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A public consultation on the review of the European Union (Birds and Natural Habitats) (Sea-fisheries) Regulations 2013 (S.I. No. 290 of 2013) commenced on 10 September 2020 and closed on 9 October 2020. Notification of the public consultation was published on the Department website, on FishingNet.ie and in the Irish Independent. Emails inviting submissions were also sent to interested parties and stakeholders. A total of seven submissions were received in response to the consultation.

Officials in my department are currently in the process of evaluating the submissions received and will use these to inform the outcome of the review. I look forward to receiving their recommendations in due course.

Carol Nolan (Laois-Offaly, Independent)
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962. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the details of all applications made by his Department to the Oireachtas Business Committee to waive pre-legislative scrutiny of primary and secondary legislation sponsored or initiated by his Department from 1 January 2017 to date; the outcomes of such applications; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37888/20]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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My Department sought to waive pre-legislative scrutiny on the Forestry Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2020 (then titled the Agriculture Appeals Act, 2001). This legislation was implemented to 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.

There was, however, extensive consultation on the draft Bill and my Department ran a month-long public consultation process before the Bill was submitted to the Oireachtas. This attracted almost 9,000 submissions each of which was reviewed and studied by my officials as part of the preparation of the final Bill. It informed the final version of the Bill which was presented to the Oireachtas. Each of these submissions was also published on my Department’s website as was an extensive summary report on the submissions received.