Vol. 499 No. 4
99 Mr. Yates asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if a person (details supplied) in County Wexford will be issued with full entitlement of special beef premium payments; if all details in relation to the herd transfer from his father to himself will be resolved; and if he will ensure that manual payments, if necessary, as in such cases as this will be issued on a speedy basis. [2886/99]
The person named is now the registered herdowner and all details in relation to the herd transfer have been resolved.
A letter of authorisation has been requested from the father of the person named as he was the applicant for the premiums concerned. Once this has been received by the Department, the payments will be released to the person named.
100 Mr. McGinley asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if a fodder grant will be paid to a person (details supplied) in County Donegal. [2887/99]
The person named is one of a small number of sheep headage applicants who were not paid a fodder supplement by 31 December 1998 because of difficulties with determining the overall amount of mountain grazing available to them. These cases are currently under examination with a view to making any outstanding fodder payments due as soon as possible.
101 Mr. U. Burke asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if a hardship grant will be paid to a person (details supplied) in County Galway; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2888/99]
An essential prerequisite for eligibility under the TB and brucellosis eradication hardship grants scheme is that the holding of the herdowner in question remains restricted following a full herd retest. Following the disclosure of a factory lesion on 11 December 1998 the holding of the person named was restricted on 15 December 1998. The herd is scheduled for a balance of herd test on 21 February 1999 and a full herd retest at a later date. If the holding remains restricted following the completion of the full herd retest, eligibility for hardship grant compensation will be determined at that stage.
The herdowner in question was potentially eligible for a winter fodder payment under either the mountain grazing scheme for ewes or the suckler cow scheme. However, as he was not an applicant under these schemes in 1998, the winter fodder payment criteria have not been met.
