asked the Minister for Agriculture if he will state in respect of lamb and sheep subsidy grants to farmers in the Slievenamon area, County Tipperary; (a) the number of applications awaiting sanction, (b) when sanction may be expected, (c) the number of grants sanctioned which have not been paid and (d) the reasons for the delay under the foregoing headings.
Written Answers. - Lamb and Sheep Subsidy Grants.
496.
Applications for grants under the EEC sheep headage payments scheme 1977 from seven farmers in the Slievenamon area have been under investigation. Payment on their eligible mountain sheep can now be made to three of these applicants on confirmation of the area of mountain grazings in their possession within designated disadvantaged areas. In three other cases the applicants are ineligible for payments on mountain sheep because the mountain grazings on which their flocks were maintained are not located in designated disadvantaged areas. Payments will, however, be made shortly in these cases at the lowland rate on all eligible hoggets. In the remaining case a decision as to the eligibility of the applicant for payments on his sheep will be taken on production of documentary evidence as to his mountain grazing rights. Payments were originally withheld in these cases pending clarification of the extent to which the individual applicants possessed mountain grazing rights.