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Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 26 Feb 1998

Vol. 487 No. 8

Written Answers. - Control of Farm Pollution.

Ruairí Quinn

Question:

20 Mr. Quinn asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food when he will make an announcement to permit new applicants to participate in a grant under the control of farmyard pollution scheme; when can farmers expect the Government commitment in this regard will be honoured; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5144/98]

Question:

25 Mr. Coveney asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if and when he proposes to reintroduce the control of farmyard pollution and the dairy hygiene schemes for new applicants. [5099/98]

I propose to take Questions Nos. 20 and 25 together.

The position following the mid term review of the Structural Funds is that an extra £20 million in public funds was allocated to the scheme for the control of farm pollution, while an additional £8.5 million was allocated to the dairy hygiene scheme. The existing allocation was insufficient because of the high level of demand under both measures. In addition £10 million and £2.7 million was made available from national Exchequer funds in last year's Supplementary Estimate for the control of farm pollution and dairy hygiene schemes, respectively, to enable grants maturing in 1997 to be paid by the end of last year.

While the additional allocations will go a long way towards meeting existing commitments they are insufficient to allow the reopening of either scheme. However, I will continue to monitor closely the progress of other large scale projects in the CSF as a whole to see if savings are likely to be identified in any area which would enable us to reintroduce both schemes, albeit in modified form.

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