Vol. 440 No. 8
40 Mr. Connor asked the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the farm electrification grants scheme operated by his Department excludes grant assistance for electricity connections to farms designated to the breeding and keeping of sport horses; his views on whether the scheme should be extended to cover this enterprise.
The farm electrification grants scheme, FEGS, was introduced in 1990 and is a carry-over of the EC funded FEOGA Western Package which was discontinued due to the exhaustion of its financial funding. The scheme is designed to subsidise the cost of installation of electricity to supply to farms without supply or with inadequate supply in order to increase farm output in disadvantaged regions of the country. Grant aid is only allowable to applicants engaged in traditional farming activities which include dairy farming, livestock production, the cultivation of grass and tillage crops, etc. Because of the limited funding available it is not possible to extend the scheme to cover non-traditional farming activities such as the development of facilities for horses.
