Vol. 429 No. 4
44 Mr. L. Burke asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry when he expects to be in a position to ensure that all EC livestock and other premia are fully paid in the year of application; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Existing EC regulations do not permit the payment of all EC livestock and other premia in the year of application.
The EC Commission Regulations governing the special beef premium and suckler cow premium schemes following the Common Agricultural Policy reforms provide that 60 per cent advance of premium may be paid after 1 November of the calendar year in respect of which an application is submitted. The balance may not be paid until the following year. As regards the ewe premium scheme, the third instalment for any year cannot be paid until the EC Commission fixes the final amount of premium due for that year. This decision is usually made in March of the following year.
It has never been possible under any Administration to deal with all cases within the year of application because query cases inevitably take some time to resolve. Furthermore, applications which are accepted in the last months of any year cannot usually be processed for payment until the early months of the following year.
In 1992 I made a special effort to ensure that a higher percentage of farmers who lodged applications in June and July 1992 would be paid by the end of the year. As a result, 83 per cent of June and July applicants under the various schemes were paid by the end of the year compared with 61 per cent for each of the two preceding years.
45 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the number of applicants who were refused cow or beef premiums in each of the years 1990, 1991 and 1992; the most common reason for refusal; his views on whether any or all of these applications could or should be reconsidered; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Detailed statistics are not available on the number of applicants who were refused EC suckler cow and special beef premium schemes grants in the years 1990, 1991 and 1992 as statistics are kept on the numbers of applicants paid rather than on those refused. At the same time it is estimated that in the region of 2 per cent of applicants under these schemes are refused grants each year. The most common reason for refusal of grants under these schemes are the failure to maintain the animals on which grants are sought for the required retention period, failure to account for the absence of animals not presented at inspection, and applying for premiums on ineligible animals. Failure to ear-punch animals and to present cattle identity cards for checking, stamping and punching are also common reasons for refusal of special beef premium grants.
All applications for 1990, 1991 and 1992 which have been refused were carefully examined before refusal and I am satisfied that there is no case for further re-consideration unless new information is supplied in any case. All of the 1990 special beef premium refusal cases have already been reviewed in the light of concessions sought from the EC Commission and granted by it and only those not coming within the scope of the concessions now stand refused.
