Mary Wallace
Question:211 Miss M. Wallace asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the compensation, if any, available to a person in County Meath who has been advised that his entire herd must be slaughtered due to BSE, particularly in view of the fact that there were no animals brought into this farm and all of the animals were born and reared on the farm and thereby the only contributing factor to BSE can be the feedstuffs; his views on whether it is sufficient to say to this person, whose entire livelihood is at risk, that the only compensation his Department can pay is the replacement value of the animals lost; if his attention has been drawn to the time of year involved, the impossibility of herd replacement at this time and the loss of milk cheques; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11190/97]