Vol. 436 No. 7
15 Mr. Shatter asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry his views on whether Ireland's full quota allocations under the suckler cow premium scheme and the ewe premium scheme will be utilised; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
39 Mrs. Owen asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry his views on whether Ireland's full quota allocations under the suckler cow premium scheme and the ewe premium scheme will be utilised; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
46 Mr. Timmins asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry his views on whether Ireland's full quota allocations under the suckler cow premium scheme and the ewe premium scheme will be utilised; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
56 Mr. Nealon asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry his views on whether Ireland's full quota allocations under the suckler cow premium scheme and the ewe premium scheme will be utilised; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I propose to answer Questions Nos. 15, 39, 46 and 56 together.
While it is too early yet to be certain in regard to this matter, I would expect our full quota allocation to be utilised. Certainly the allocation arrangements — including those relating to the reserve for priority categories — which I have made should facilitate a full utilisation.
Will the Minister not agree that the conditions he has applied to the allocation of quota from the reserve for both the suckler cow premium and the ewe premium have greatly held up the process of allocating those reserves and needlessly complicated applications for both those premiums to the point where there is now a long delay compared to what should have been the case? People who applied for premiums under both those schemes from the reserve some months ago do not yet know what their quotas will be. When will those applicants be told what their final allocation will be?
Regarding the ewe reserve, that matter has been disposed of and applicants will be informed very quickly in that regard. In relation to the other reserve, we hope to finalise the criteria for qualification for that within the next few weeks, following which the applicants will be immediately notified of the position. Every effort is being made to finalise that requirement.
In regard to whatever wonderful calculation is being carried out on the criteria for the suckler cow scheme, will it be designed to ensure that we use the full reserve that is available? Will the Minister make sure that the criteria for qualification will be such as to ensure that there will be no unallocated suckler quota at the end of the exercise?
The Deputy can be assured that it is the intention of the Government, the Minister and the Department to ensure that the national allocation will be fully utilised by Irish farmers.
Will the Minister give an assurance that when he considers the suckler cow allocation he will be sympathetic to applicants who may have been rejected last year because they did not meet the deadline for the 1992 suckler cow premium and were precluded under this year's scheme. I know of cases where people have suffered hardship and may be pressurised into going out of business if the quota is not forthcoming. Will the Minister give an assurance that those people will be given priority for allocation?
The Deputy's point is a fair one. As I indicated, the Department is in the process of finalising the criteria for qualification. I will bring the Deputy's point to the Department's attention for consideration in the context of the new guidelines.
In view of the delay and the uncertainty involved, will the Minister consider circularising the people involved to inform them of the position and when the matter will be finally resolved?
We do not want to create further bureaucracy. It is my intention to utilise the human resources of the Department to speed up payments instead of sending circulars to farmers which would be of no benefit to them. At present our resources are directed towards speeding up the process of outstanding claims and the early payment of outstanding moneys. We are doing our best to ensure in so far as we can that all those who qualify for grants will be paid before the end of this year.
If the Minister does not circularise this information will he avail of some other public medium to notify these people of the position, rather than have them going to Dáil Deputies and other people to seek information?
I am sure Deputies are delighted to get the information. I have given a very detailed reply to Members who went to the trouble of tabling questions today. That information will be taken up by the media and I do not know how better we can inform farmers about the position in relation to grants.
We are ecstatic about receiving information on grants.
May I ask the Minister, when drawing up guidelines, to consider young farm entrants and those on whose farms there may have been outbreaks of disease and who are penalised in terms of suckler cow quotas? Will the Minister confirm that particular emphasis will be given in the guidelines to these people?
A feature of all our schemes has been consideration of special hardship cases. The cases referred to by the Deputy will be taken into consideration by officials in formulating the new scheme and I will ensure the Deputy's point is brought to their attention.
