Vol. 489 No. 6
294 Mr. Perry asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if he will grant a person (details supplied) in County Sligo his suckler cow quota in view of the fact that he lives in a severely disadvantaged area and his farm is not viable without the quota that he has applied for; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8963/98]
The person named applied to the 1998 national reserve for six suckler cow premium quota rights. In deciding the order of priority under which the 1998 national reserve should be distributed, the quota review group decided that farmers whose total livestock units were five or less should be allocated reserve quota first. If quota remained after those had been allocated quota, then farmers who had six livestock units would receive allocations, and so on, until all available quota had been distributed. The demand for reserve quota this year is such that not all applicants who may otherwise have qualified will receive quota. All available quota has been distributed to farmers whose livestock units are 5.8 or less. As the person named at present has 7.5 livestock units it is not possible to allocate him quota from the 1998 national reserve.
