Vol. 491 No. 2
113 Mr. Deenihan asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food when a decision will be made on the appeal by persons (details supplied) in County Kerry regarding their 1997 arable aid application; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11584/98]
The herdowner lodged an appeal on 18 March 1998 concerning his 1997 arable aid application. Appeals are dealt with in the order in which they are received and require individual examination. The appeal will be dealt with in due course and the herdowner will be notified of the outcome.
114 Mr. Connaughton asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the proposals, if any, there are to allow Leader funds to be made available for horticultural projects in so far as structural assistance to horticulture is concerned; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11586/98]
Arising out of the mid-term review of the Leader programme my Department is examining proposals that certain investments in horticulture production, for which funding under the operational programme for Agriculture, Food and Forestry is fully committed, be regarded as eligible farm diversification measures under Leader.
Any such changes in the Leader programme will require approval of the European Commission.
115 Mr. Perry asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if he will make a decision on suckler cow quota and grant additional quota for a person (details supplied) in County Sligo in view of the fact that he lives in a rural disadvantaged area and needs to increase his quota to have a viable farm business; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11631/98]
More than 7,200 farmers applied for an allocation of suckler cow quota from the 1998 national reserve. In all, only 4,200 premium rights were available for distribution but more than 50,000 would be required to satisfy the demand. Having regard to the limited amount of quota available relative to the demand and in accordance with the recommendations of the quota review group, priority was given to herdowners with low livestock units. This resulted in all the available quota being allocated to those with less than 5.8 livestock units.
The livestock unit level is derived from the applicants permanent suckler cow, ewe premium and milk quota, if any, and the number of livestock units on which the special beef premium scheme was applied for in 1997. As the person named has 8.6 livestock units, (suckler cow quota of 3.9, special beef premium of 2.8 and ewe premium quota of 1.9), there was insufficient quota in the reserve to allow an allocation to be made to her.
