Vol. 512 No. 5
45 Mr. Sheehan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development the number of farmers in the constituency of Cork south-west awaiting payment of 1999 cattle and sheep headage grants; and the reason for the delay. [26438/99]
It is not possible to give the number of farmers awaiting payment under any scheme until the eligibility of each application is established. All queries in relation to each problem case must be resolved before a decision can be made on whether payment is due.
With regard to the constituency of Cork south-west, the number of applications received under the 1999 sheep headage scheme was 814 of which 681 have been paid.
Of the remainder 32 cases have so far been found to be ineligible for payment for various reasons including no area aid application submitted, false declaration penalties and non-compliance with regulations governing the scheme. The balance involve queries in relation to their area aid applications or their sheep headage applications. Payment cannot issue in these cases until the relevant queries are resolved and their eligibility is established.
In regard to the 1999 cattle headage-beef cow scheme, the number of applications received from farmers in the constituency of Cork south-west was 2,685 of which 2,350 have been paid. Of the remainder, 16 have so far been found to be ineligible because they either failed to lodge area aid applications or had less than the minimum area required to qualify for payment. The balance have not yet been due to various reasons, mainly problems with either their area aid or cattle headage-beef cow applications.
At this stage it is not possible to say how many of these cases will eventually qualify for payment.
Every effort is being made to resolve these outstanding cases as quickly as possible.
