asked the Minister for Agriculture if he is aware that there is a backlog of 700 applications, some for 12 months, under the farm modernisation scheme waiting to be dealt with at the farm development office in Monaghan; and if he will provide additional staff to deal with this situation.

During the past year, three agricultural officers have been added to the staff assigned to the farm development service in County Monaghan in order to deal with the backlog of applications received under the scheme. This number will be increased according as additional staff are recruited from a competition recently conducted by the Civil Service Commission.

Is the Minister aware that since this question was put down the backlog has increased? Would he give an assurance that in view of the provision of the new western drainage scheme sufficient staff will be recruited to process applications? Farmers are worried that because of the five-year limit on the scheme some applications might not be processed in time.

In the past 12 months, 65 agricultural officers have been assigned to the farm development scheme. Because of the increasing use being made of that scheme, the need for extra staff is obvious. A competition has been held by the Civil Service Commission and we are looking for extra staff to man these positions.

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