Vol. 463 No. 8
169 Mr. Creed asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry if he will consider a new policy within his Department whereby inspections for sheep headage will take place outside the lambing season, either well in advance of lambing or after all ewes have lambed in view of the fact that inspections during the lambing season cause considerable inconvenience and high lamb losses. [7488/96]
Applications under the EU ewe premium scheme and the EU sheep headage scheme are accepted on a composite application form. The application period for the 1996 schemes ran from 13 December 1995 until 9 January 1996. This application period was agreed following discussions with the farming organisations and is influenced by such factors as the seasonal lamb production pattern.
Both schemes are governed by EU regulations which provide that the sheep applied on must be retained by the applicant for a specified period. In the case of the ewe premium scheme the retention period runs for 100 days from the closing date for receipt of applications while the retention period for the sheep headage scheme runs for a minimum period of two months from the day following receipt of the applications. My Department is obliged to carry out inspection of flocks in order to verify the authenticity of claims and the eligibility of sheep on which premium or headage is claimed. Such inspections must be carried out within the retention period.
