Vol. 429 No. 5
44 Mr. Ellis asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry if he will pay a headage grant due to a person (details supplied) in County Leitrim that was forwarded from the local office of his Department for payment some months ago.
The person named was paid an advance of her 1992 cattle headage scheme grant at the end of November 1992 and the balance in mid-December 1992.
She did not apply in the June-July application period for 1992 special beef premium scheme. However she did apply in the November-December period and this application together with her November-December 1992 suckler cow premium scheme application will be processed as soon as possible.
Payment of the 1992 sheep headage scheme grants will be paid to the person named shortly.
45 Mr. Deasy asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry if he will ensure that the malfunction of a computer in his Department processing the payment of beef premia does not cause hardship to applicants awaiting payment.
Beef premia payments are processed on the Department's computer in Agriculture House based on the appropriate application details forwarded from the local Livestock Offices. The malfunction of this computer would be a very rare occurrence and, if it did happen, would be unlikely to delay processing for more than a few hours. Therefore it would not delay payments and would not cause hardship to applicants. However, as the computer procedures are the final element in the payment process, it highlights errors in applications which must be referred back to the local offices for further instructions.
