asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if his attention has been drawn to the fact that a person (details supplied) in County Cavan has been declared ineligible to participate in the cattle headage scheme because his off-farm earnings have been held to exceed the permitted off-farm income by IR£1.79; and if he will exercise his discretion and pay this headage grant.
Written Answers. - Cattle Headage Scheme.
21.
I have reviewed this case with a considerable degree of sympathy, but I regret that the original decision to refuse grants under the 1987 disadvantaged areas schemes must stand for a number of reasons. There will inevitably be marginal cases in any system where a fixed limit is set and to pay one such case could lead to a rush of claims from others, who are £5, £20, £50 and so on over the off-farm income limit. The scope for such claims would be endless if one started down that road.
Headage grants are meant to be income supports to those farmers in disadvantaged areas in need of such supports. The person named did earn £6,401.79 off-farm income during the 1986-87 income tax year and was considerably better off therefore than many other applicants who had no off-farm incomes at all during that year. Indeed, an applicant with no off-farm income but with the same amount of stock would have received £329 in headage grants compared to the £6,401.79 received by the person named from outside sources.
Finally, while I have discretion to set the off-farm income limit for a particular year, I am not at liberty once it is set to vary it in individual cases. To do so would be unjust and unfair to the many other part-time farmers who were marginally over the limit and therefore did not apply for grants under the 1987 disadvantaged areas schemes.