Vol. 486 No. 1
463 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food when a person (details supplied) in County Mayo will get the remainder of his BSE compensation payment in view of the fact that he was underpaid and that most overpayments have been recouped by the Department. [1832/98]
The regulations governing payment of the 1996 BSE compensation package, which was paid out in October 1996, provided for payment of top-ups in respect of animals which qualified for payment under the 1995 EU suckler cow premium scheme or 1995 EU special beef premium scheme. The regulations also provided for adjustments, upwards and downwards, later on to take account of the number of animals qualifying for payment under the 1996 EU suckler cow premium scheme and the 1996 EU special beef premium scheme. In effect, the regulations required that when all balancing payments under the 1996 EU suckler cow premium schemes and the 1996 EU special beef premium schemes are made a comparison is to be carried out between the number of animals qualifying for payment under the 1995 schemes and the number qualifying under the 1996 schemes. Money is to be recouped from those farmers who had fewer animals qualifying under the 1996 schemes.
The recouped money is then to be used to make payments to those farmers who had more eligible animals under the 1996 schemes. Recoupments under the regulations are continuing and when all moneys are recouped the rate of payment can be decided. It is expected that the Department will be in a position to make these payments before the end of June 1998.
