Vol. 458 No. 4
41 Mr. Clohessy asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the reason for delays of more than a year in the payment of the beef slaughter premium to farmers; the proposals, if any, he has for speeding up of payment of these premiums; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17048/95]
Under the 1994 deseasonalisation slaughter premium scheme 12,252 applicants out of the 12,378 who applied have been paid £11.909 million. The only cases unpaid are query cases where invalid tag numbers were quoted by applicants or where cattle identity cards or factory dockets have not been received. All the farmers concerned have been written to and asked to reply to all outstanding queries — if they do not, or cannot, do so payment will not be made.
Under the 1995 scheme, as of this week £13.711 million had been paid out compared to only £10.774 million at the same time last year in respect of the 1994 scheme. The extra resources I have put in place in the special beef premium unit of my Department in Portlaoise to speed up payments does therefore seem to be achieving results.
