Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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361. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if changes have occurred to the manner in which the National Parks and Wildlife Service provides notifications to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine relating to actions requiring consent as they relate to TAMS applications; if the staff, role or unit within the National Parks and Wildlife Service which provides such consent and that communicates such to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has changed; if so, the reason for such a change; the number of full-time equivalent staff in any such units; the steps that have been taken to alleviate delays; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11408/22]

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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My Department established a list of 38 activities that have the potential to damage habitats or species and therefore require consent before they are carried out within a European site. These applications relating to actions requiring consent are managed at a regional level by National Parks and Wildlife Service officials in the location to which the application refers. This process is managed within the workload of regional officers, there is no dedicated unit dealing with activities requiring consent.

In certain limited circumstances my Department, with the consent of the applicant, may refer the application to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine. Regulation 32(1) provides that where the Minister forms the opinion that the application for consent relates to an activity that may require the consent of the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine under the European Communities (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Agriculture) Regulations 2011 (the “Agriculture EIA Regulations”), then the Minister shall, if the applicant wishes to pursue the application, refer the matter to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine. TAMS applications, however, are solely a matter for the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, and I do not have a role in relation to same.