I propose to take Questions Nos. 26 and 49 together.
Since my detailed reply of 29 January to the Deputy on the current position as regards the Kearney report (including the imposition of the £3,000 ceiling limit), formal negotiations with the Commission's services have commenced on the proposals which I put to the European Commission in October 1996 but I am not yet in a position to indicate when this process will be completed.
As regards the implications involved for those farmers affected by the proposed £3,000 ceiling, the position is that around 4,000 farmers get average payments of approximately £3,600 annually and they would cease, therefore, to get any amount above the £3,000 level from 1 January 1998. When premia schemes are included, such better-off farmers are on average in receipt of overall payments of approximately £15,700 per annum. Restriction of headage to a ceiling of £3,000 would therefore involve an average reduction of approximately 4 per cent. As indicated in a previous reply to the Deputy, one of the provisions in Partnership 2000 is that implementation of the £3,000 ceiling measure should proceed unless agreement is reached on an equitable alternative within the current level of the programme's resources.