Vol. 433 No. 1
28 Mr. Lowry asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the arrangements, if any, he proposes to have made in relation to the allocation of the additional suckler cow quota to priority category producers; the way in which he intends to define those priority categories; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
34 Mr. Timmins asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the arrangements, if any, he proposes to have made in relation to the allocation of the additional suckler cow quota to priority category producers; the way in which he intends to define those priority categories; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
50 Mr. Connor asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry his views on whether the delay in deciding on applications for extra quota for suckler cows and sheep premia from the National Reserve is undue and overlong; when these decisions will be given; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
97 Mr. Carey asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the arrangements, if any, he proposes to have made in relation to the allocation of the additional suckler cow quota to priority category producers; the way in which he intends to define those priority categories; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 28, 34, 50 and 97 together.
EC Regulations governing the ewe premium and suckler cow schemes provide for the establishment of a national reserve and a special reserve for the disadvantaged areas for allocation to certain categories of producers. The national reserve is to be established by the deduction of premium rights from quota holders and is to be equivalent to between 1 per cent and 3 per cent of the total individual quotas allocated to producers in the State. The special reserve for the disadvantaged areas is to be equivalent to 1 per cent of the individual quotas allocated to producers in those areas. The position is, therefore, that these reserves cannot be established until individual quotas have been allocated to producers.
With regard to the ewe premium scheme, individual quotas are allocated to producers who were paid the premium in 1991 and applied for the premium in 1992. In addition, there are special arrangements for producers whose payments in 1991 were lower than normal or who did not apply for premium in that year because of natural circumstances or the imposition of penalties. These provisions significantly complicated the work involved in allocating quotas and necessitated the examination of a substantial number of individual files and are largely responsible for the delay in allocating quotas to producers and, by extension, the establishment of the reserve quotas. Furthermore, my Department held consultations with farming organisations on the selection of priority categories for the allocation of the reserve. However, work on the selection of the priority categories has now been completed and I will be announcing them within a few days.
As a convenience to producers, my Department accepted applications under the suckler cow scheme up to the end of 1992. As the scheme provides for a six month retention period — which in many cases will not end until 30 June 1993 — not all applications submitted under the scheme have been processed and it will not be possible to establish either of the reserves until this work has been completed. I intend to announce the priority categories for the allocation of the reserve when the reserve has been established.
With regard to the suckler cow and ewe premium schemes, producers will be invited to submit formal applications for reserve quota and to provide evidence of their claim for treatment as priority categories. Producers who intend to apply for reserve quota may submit an application for the scheme in the meantime and they will be paid premium up to the limit of any reserve quota eventually allocated to them. I have set up a new quota section in my Department in Castlebar to process all applications for reserve quota.
