asked the Minister for Agriculture if he will consider extending the closing date for ewe subsidy applications for this year beyond 15 March, in view of the number of people who were late in applying but who satisfy all other criteria relating to the scheme.
Written Answers. - Ewe Premium Scheme.
719.
EC Regulations lay down that inspections under the ewe premium scheme must take place within 100 days of the closing day fixed by a member state for accepting applications under that scheme. The closing day of 15 March was fixed by my Department in consultation with the IFA national sheep committee so as to allow inspections to start from 18 March onward. An extension of the closing date at this late stage would invalidate these arrangements and would mean that flocks inspected between 18 March and an extended date would have to be inspected again. Because of the disproportionate cost involved in reinspections and also bearing in mind that the closing date of 15 March was advertised twice in the national, local and farming press and that application forms were posted by the Department to all previous applicants, an extension of the closing date could not now be justified to facilitate the very small percentage of flockowners who failed to observe the published dateline.