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Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 22 Mar 1994

Vol. 440 No. 4

Written Answers. - Grant Payment Statistics

Seymour Crawford

Question:

265 Mr. Crawford asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the number of farmers who have received payment under the 1993 cattle headage scheme to date; the total amount paid to date under this scheme; the number of farmers who are awaiting payments under this scheme; the amount of money outstanding under this scheme; and when all payments will be made.

Seymour Crawford

Question:

266 Mr. Crawford asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the number of farmers who have received payment under the 1993 beef cow headage scheme to date; the total amount paid to date under this scheme; the number of farmers who are awaiting payments under this scheme; the amount of money outstanding under this scheme; and when all payments will be made.

Seymour Crawford

Question:

267 Mr. Crawford asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the number of farmers who have received payment under the 1993 horse headage scheme to date; the total amount paid to date under this scheme; the number of farmers who are awaiting payments under this scheme; the amount of money outstanding under this scheme; and when all payments will be made.

Seymour Crawford

Question:

268 Mr. Crawford asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the number of farmers who have received payment under the 1993 sheep headage scheme to date; the total amount paid to date under this scheme; the number of farmers who are awaiting payments under this scheme; the amount of money outstanding under this scheme; and when all payments will be made.

Seymour Crawford

Question:

269 Mr. Crawford asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the number of farmers who have received payment under the 1993 deseasonalisation premium scheme; the number of farmers who have received only partial payment under this scheme; the total value of the premium paid to date under this scheme; the number of applications under this scheme; the total amount due under this scheme; and when all payments will be made.

Seymour Crawford

Question:

270 Mr. Crawford asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the number of farmers who have applied for and are eligible for payment of extensification premium under both the 1993 special beef premium and 1993 suckler cow premium schemes; the number of farmers who have received payment of extensification premium to date; the total amount paid to date under this scheme; the number of farmers who are awaiting payments under this scheme; the amount of money outstanding under this scheme; and when all payments will be made.

Seymour Crawford

Question:

271 Mr. Crawford asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the number of 1993 simplified area aid application files that have been processed by his Department to date; and when the processing of all files will be completed.

Seymour Crawford

Question:

272 Mr. Crawford asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the number of farmers who have received payment under the 1993 special beef premium scheme; the amount of money paid to date under this scheme, that is in respect of January/February 1993, June 1993 and November 1993 applications; the number of farmers who are awaiting 60 per cent advance payment under this scheme; the amount of money outstanding under this scheme; when farmers will receive the final 40 per cent payment under this scheme; and when all payments will be made.

Seymour Crawford

Question:

273 Mr. Crawford asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the number of farmers who have received payment under the 1993 suckler cow premium for small scale dairy producers to date; the amount of money paid to date under this scheme; the number of farmers who are awaiting 60 per cent advance payment; the amount of money outstanding under this scheme; when farmers will receive the final 40 per cent payment under this scheme; and when all payments will be made.

Seymour Crawford

Question:

274 Mr. Crawford asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the number of farmers who have received payment under the 1993 suckler cow premium, that is, in respect of the June 1993 application and the November 1993 application; the amount of money paid to date under this scheme; the number of farmers who are awaiting 60 per cent advance payment; the amount of money outstanding under this scheme; when farmers will receive the final 40 per cent payment under this scheme; and when all payments will be made.

Seymour Crawford

Question:

275 Mr. Crawford asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the number of farmers who have applied under the 1993 ewe premium scheme; the number of farmers who have received payment to-date under this scheme; the amount of money paid to date under this scheme; the number of farmers who are awaiting payment; and when payment of the final advance will commence and end.

I propose taking Questions Nos. 265 to 275, inclusive, together.

Payments made to date on foot of 1993 schemes are as follows:

Scheme

Number of Payments made

Amount Paid

£m

Cattle Headage

111,228

57.563

Beef Cow Headage

17,366

9.259

Equine Headage

3,814

0.548

Sheep Headage

30,067

18.944

Suckler Cow Premium

(June/July)

63,928

34.273

Small Scale Suckler Cow (June/July)

5,652

1.460

Deseasonalisation Slaughter Premium

20,559

11.528

Special Beef Premium (Jan/Feb)

49,697

19.835

Special Beef Premium (June/July)

51,317

10.045

Ewe Premium

49,465

70.972

Of these payments, 74,479 under cattle headage and 11,690 under beef cow headage are in respect of advances only whilst the remainder are in respect of final payments. Payment of the balance in respect of the cattle headage and beef cow schemes commenced on 18 February and are continuing at present. The EU Commission has recently fixed the third and final instalment of the ewe premium scheme and payments will commence shortly.
Payment of the balances in respect of the special beef and suckler cow premium schemes cannot be made to a particular applicant until all applications received from him-her in the course of 1993 have been processed. This is necessary to ensure compliance with EU regulations covering in particular the ceiling on eligible animals and stocking density. The processing of the November 1993 applications means that in most cases payment of the final 40 per cent of premium will not start for a few weeks. Payment of extensification premium is expected to commence in April.
Delays by farmers in responding to queries are the principal factor holding up payments particularly in so far as January-February and June 1993 special beef premium cases are concerned. The main problems involve invalid tags or the absence of identity cards; failure to submit area aid applications or the lack of a quota are other impediments to payment. Close to half of the June 1993 special beef premium applicants were the subject of query by my Department and responses are generally very slow. I am anxious to facilitate timely payments but farmers who do not respond to necessary inquiries from my Department cannot expect their applications to be cleared. Payments in respect of the November 1993 special beef premium scheme will commence shortly.
The number of simplified area aid applications processed to date is 128,593. Again, there is a number of queries to be resolved with farmers and the remaining applications will be processed as soon as these are cleared.
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