Vol. 486 No. 1
437 Mr. Yates asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if he will clarify the level of allocations under the suckler cow premium quota from the national reserve for 1998; when the allocations will be made; and if a person (details supplied) in County Wexford will be favourably considered. [1636/98]
Approximately 7,000 farmers have applied for allocations of quota from the 1998 national reserve and the amount of quota available for distribution is 11,000 premium rights. Eligible applicants with a livestock unit level of five or less will be offered quota first. Any residue will be then offered to farmers with six livestock units and so on, on an ascending basis, until all the available quota is distributed.
Applicants with more than 15 livestock units are unlikely to receive an allocation. The maximum number of premium rights that will be allocated to any successful applicant is ten. It is expected that all applicants will be notified of the result of their applications by 31 March 1998.
The person named has applied for an allocation of quota but, as the processing of applications will not be completed for some weeks, I cannot say at this stage, if her application will be successful.
