asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if his attention has been drawn to the long delays in dealing with farm grant applications; if the £30 per visit paid by the applicant for each visit from the farm development officer is the economic cost of the visit; or if the Department will make a profit on the transaction.

I am aware that in certain areas there is a time lag in servicing applications for approval under the farm improvement schemes. Every effort is being made to reduce this time lag having regard to the volume of applications and the staff resources available.

The charge per visit does not represent the full cost when salaries are taken into account.