Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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234. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the amount of funding provided to a scheme run by a farming organisation (details supplied) annually since 2017; the role of his Department in oversight of the spending of these funds; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62388/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Macra na Feirme’s Land Mobility Service, which seeks to facilitate new collaborative arrangements between farms, including farm partnerships, shared farming and long-term leasing, has been supported by my Department over the last number of years. Due to the success of an initial Land Mobility Service (LMS) pilot between 2014 and 2016, Macra proposed to expand the scheme in 2017 and sought additional support up to 2020. My Department agreed to provide funding of €50,000 per annum for three years (2017-2019). The final payment in this respect was made in December 2019.

To the end of 2019, over 520 arrangements covering approximately 19,000 hectares had been facilitated. As a result, my Department decided to continue this funding for a further two years during the transition period ahead of the new CAP. Notwithstanding the impact of COVID-19, enquiries, engagements and arrangements continued to grow in 2021 with the cumulative figure for the latter now in excess of 800 covering over 26,000 hectares.

The Land Mobility Service provides an annual report to my Department on delivery and outputs and these are also the subject of regular engagement.