Vol. 418 No. 6
140 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if he will outline the degrees to which the appeals procedure in regard to disadvantaged areas is likely to be completed before the deadline; and if he will make a statement on the matter having regard to (a) the entire country and (b) County Kildare.
The three preliminary phases of the appeals procedure have now been completed. These consisted of the receipt of appeal applications from farming representatives, the processing of these applications and the arranging of a survey of the areas (including areas in County Kildare) from which appeals were submitted.
The next phase involves the processing on computer of all data from the 45,000 farms inspected in the survey. This is a huge and complex task and is expected to be completed in the autumn. At that stage the appeals panel will examine the survey results and make recommendations to my Department as to the areas to be included in a submission to Brussels. The final decision on areas to be classified as disadvantaged rests with the EC Commission.
