Vol. 411 No. 1
218 Mr. Creed asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food when he expects the disadvantaged area appeals procedure to be completed; and if he will outline the new areas which will be approved under appeal to be included in the disadvantaged areas.
The appeals panel have received over 1,500 appeal applications from groups of farmers who were not included in the recent extension of the disadvantaged areas. The area under appeal is estimated at three million acres comprising 45,000 individual farms.
The panel is at present finalising the methodology for the compilation and assessment of data on the areas in question. This will be completed as quickly as possible but at this stage it is too early to say when the whole procedure will be completed and a case can be submitted to the EC Commission. Pending the completion of the procedure it is not possible to say what new areas will benefit.
