Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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371. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the details of any and all communication from the European Commission in respect of Irish forestry legislation, in particular the Forestry (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2020 and statutory instruments made in 2020 for forestry and their compliance with the Aarhus Convention, the environmental impact assessment directive, including the public participation directive or other EU directives; if he will furnish copies of any such communications; the status of discussions with the European Commission in 2020 on such matters; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44087/20]

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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372. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if there has been communication from the European Commission in respect of Irish forestry legislation, in particular the recent Forestry (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2020 and the statutory instruments he made in 2020 for forestry, and their compliance with the Aarhus Convention and the environmental impact assessment directive, including the public participation directive or other EU directives; if so, if he will make copies of any such communications available to the Houses of the Oireachtas; the status of discussions with the Commission in 2020 on such matters; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44088/20]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 371 and 372 together.

My Department recently applied to the European Commission for an extension to the State Aid approval for the national Forestry Programme beyond the end of 2020. The current Forestry Programme has State Aid approval under the EU's State Aid Guidelines for the agriculture and forestry sectors (2014/C 204/01). These guidelines are currently under review and the revised version will largely depend on the final shape of the CAP post-2020 proposals and the CAP Strategic Plans in particular.

As part of the process to ensure that existing State aid schemes, including the Forestry Programme, that expire on 31/12/2020 can continue beyond this period, the Commission offered Member States the opportunity to extend existing schemes by 15 October 2020. My Department submitted its block notification to the Commission within the appropriate timeframe and included the measures under our Forestry Programme. We are waiting on a final decision on this application.

This extension is needed as otherwise we would have to cease all schemes under the National Forestry Programme at the end of this year. These schemes, including those which involve planting trees for example, are a key part of our national climate mitigation measures. This would be unfair to all stakeholders and farmers who are applying or who intend to apply for these schemes under the Programme.

There is ongoing contact with the European Commission on this request and I will be updating as soon as I have a final decision on the request.