342. Deputy Paul Kehoe asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of agricultural appeals pending, by month; how long an application is taking for a final decision; how long an application is taking from oral hearing to final decision, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37813/24]

I wish to inform the Deputy that the Agriculture Appeals Office operates independently of my Department. The Agriculture Appeals Office has, however, provided details as requested by the Deputy as follows:

Appeals open by month:

There are a further 9 files open for years 2020 (1), 2021 (6), and 2022 (2). These appeals may still be open for a number of reasons, including the complexity of the case, cases awaiting further submissions and the unavailability of parties to attend hearing.

* Please note: The figure contained in the 2023 Annual Report is different as the above statistic takes into account all of the closed 2023 files, some of which were closed in 2024.