Vol. 416 No. 7
18 Mr. Crowley asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if he approves of the current method of batching applications for computer processing; if he will outline the initiatives being taken to prevent an entire batch being rejected when only one in several applications contains an error; and his views on whether it is fair to farmers who have to endure further delays before payments are issued.
59 Mr. Crowley asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the reason almost 45 per cent of approved beef premium applications processed up to 31 January 1991 were rejected by computer.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 18 and 59 together.
The controls built into the system are necessary to detect errors in the batching of applications and in the punching of data for processing by computer. Entire batches are only rejected when there are errors in batch totals. An error in one application in a batch will not generally cause rejection of all the applications in the batch unless the particular error affects the batch totals. In view of the high standard of controls required by the Comptroller and Auditor General and by EC Commission auditors and in the interest of protecting public moneys it would be unwise to drop the present controls.
Initial problems in the processing of 1991 special beef premium applications have now been overcome and it is expected that the remaining cases will be processed without any complications.
19 Mr. D'Arcy asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if he will give details of the percentage of herds disqualified from the beef premium scheme 1991 and the percentage of herds disqualified in the area served by the Enniscorthy District Veterinary Office.
Applications for the 1991 special beef premium scheme which have not been approved for payment to date are being reviewed in the light of recommendations made recently by a departmental task force and accepted by me. In view of this it is not possible to indicate at this stage how many applications will be eventually refused nationally and in the area served by the Enniscorthy District Livestock Office.
