Parliamentary questions

259. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the contingency plans that exist if afforestation levels continue to fall short of national targets due to combined pressures. [22727/26]

260. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the steps his Department is taking to improve the pay and condition for Ireland's veterinary nurses; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22742/26]

261. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine further to Parliamentary Question No. 899 of 10 February 2026, to provide details of the greyhound track attendance statistics for 2025, covering both Greyhound Racing Ireland tracks and private tracks; the breakdown of the figures, by attendance at each track, type of entry, that is, paid entry, free entry, entry by a…

262. Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the position regarding the number of employees that were employed in his Department at the end of December 2025, broken down by grade, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22866/26]

263. Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of employees in each of the agencies under his Department's remit at the end of December 2025, broken down by grade, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22888/26]

264. Deputy Seán Ó Fearghaíl asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will address concerns regarding veterinary nurse pay and conditions raised in correspondence (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22961/26]

265. Deputy Eamon Scanlon asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of Access to Information on the Environment (AIE) requests received in each of the years 2020 to 2025; the total number of AIE requests received; the total number of internal reviews sought; the total number of appeals to the Office of the Commissioner for Environmental Information (OCEI); the outcomes of …

266. Deputy Cathal Crowe asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the main policy achievements of his Department since 22 January 2025; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23069/26]

267. Deputy Shónagh Ní Raghallaigh asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to provide a detailed breakdown of the way in which the €20 million EU allocation for greyhound racing is spent; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23093/26]

268. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the way in which the forestry programme aligns with the EU Nature Restoration Regulation; and whether the Department has assessed the programme’s contribution to biodiversity targets. [23119/26]

742. Deputy Conor D. McGuinness asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he acknowledges that certain regions now have no viable access to certified organic slaughter facilities. [21401/26]

743. Deputy Conor D. McGuinness asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if his Department conducted an assessment of regional slaughter capacity in light of organic expansion targets. [21402/26]

744. Deputy Conor D. McGuinness asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the contingency planning that exists when a single plant suspension removes processing access for small producers. [21403/26]

745. Deputy Conor D. McGuinness asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if his Department considers small and medium-scale abattoirs to be critical rural infrastructure. [21404/26]

746. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the average processing time for applications under the re-establishment upon successful scheme dealing with ash die-back replanting, broken down by application size. [21470/26]

747. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the total number of hectares approved and replanted under RUS since its inception [21471/26]

748. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason applications for re-establishment on already planted land suffer the same lengthy delays as new afforestation applications; and the steps that will be taken to introduce an expedited decision-making track for diseased stands. [21472/26]

749. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the total cost of the running the Forestry Service, in each of the years 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024. [21476/26]

750. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the breakdown of the administration cost, per hectare, by licence type, afforestation, felling and forest road; and to outline the total number of hectares processed under each licence category in those years. [21477/26]

751. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the average administration cost per hectare for applications that were ultimately approved versus those that were withdrawn or refused, for each of the past three years. [21478/26]

752. Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine further to Parliamentary Question No. 338 of 5 February 2026, to disaggregate the 510 CHEDPs processed by his Department in 2024 for products of Brazilian origin at the Border Control Post (BCP) of Dublin Port, terminal 10 by CN code/product type and include the gross tonnage of each; and if he will make a stat…

753. Deputy Ryan O'Meara asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the efforts being made to deal with the rising cases of animal cruelty; the number of cases that have been prosecuted on indictment of animal cruelty in the past five years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21526/26]

754. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if consideration would be given to the introduction of salary bands for registered veterinary nurses to ensure that they reflect the qualification status, and in particular taking into account the additional hidden costs incurred by registered veterinary nurses annually including annual registration fee with the Veterin…

755. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if consideration would be given to the introduction of salary bands for registered veterinary nurses to ensure that they reflect the qualification status, in view that the average salary for a registered veterinary nurse in Ireland remains significantly below the national average, despite completing Level 6, Level 7 and…

756. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if consideration would be given to greater oversight of corporate veterinary employment practices to ensure fair competition and protect staff welfare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21573/26]