Vol. 515 No. 3
148 Mr. McGuinness asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development the reason full premium has not been paid to persons (details supplied) in County Wexford; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that they received suckler quota for 18 cows instead of 40 as applied for; and if the Department will expedite the application for the full amount. [6085/00]
There is no record in my Department of having received an application from the persons named for an allocation of suckler cow quota from the 1999 national reserve.
The person named applied for premium on 18 suckler cows under the 1999 suckler cow premium scheme on 3 June 1999. As they held a quota of 18 premium rights and as the animals they applied on were deemed eligible, they qualified for payment on all 18 animals.
A 60% advance payment of £1,437.91 issued on 1 November 1999 and a euro compensation top-up of £127.62 on 20 December 1999. A balancing payment of £958.61 issued on 7 February 2000 making a total payment of £2,524.14 which is their full entitlement.
The persons named have applied for an allocation of suckler cow quota from the year 2000 national reserve but as the demand for reserve quota far exceeded the amount available for distribution, applicants with a low level of livestock units are being given priority. As the persons named have 103.95 livestock units, there is not sufficient quota available to enable an allocation to be made to them.
149 Mr. Aylward asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development the reason for the delay in issuing approval for a EU farm retirement scheme to a person (details supplied) in County Kilkenny. [6176/00]
The application for an early retirement pension from the person named was received on 19 October 1999. The processing of the application has now been completed and payment of the pension will be made at the end of March 2000 backdated to 19 October 1999, the date of valid application.
