Under the current Operational Programme for Agricultural, Rural Development and Forestry a total of £17 million was made available for the scheme of installation aid. Due to the level of demand it was necessary to suspend the scheme on 7 August 1997 when some 3,100 young farmers had been paid a total public contribution of over £17 million.
In the 1997 supplementary budget an additional £1.5 million was granted to meet the shortfall in funding for the scheme to the year end. In addition an extra £3.5 million was provided in the budget from the national Exchequer to enable my Department to process the remaining valid applications which had been received in the Department when the scheme was suspended. The question of applications which had not been submited by 7 August 1997 due to technical deficiencies, including full registration of title, is currently the subject of discussion with interested parties.