Vol. 526 No. 4
241 Mr. Yates asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development if a person (details supplied) in County Wexford will have their eligibility for an allocation under the national suckler cow reserve reconsidered in view of the error in assessing their existing number of livestock units; and if, in view of the fact that he has the requisite number for category C eligibility, the case will be reviewed and reconsidered favourably. [27057/00]
The person named applied for an allocation of suckler cow quota from the year 2001 national reserve under category C.
This category was reserved for farmers who were regular applicants under the suckler cow premium scheme and who had at least ten but not more than 30 livestock units. Livestock units are calculated with reference to the number of animals applied on for the year 2000 suckler cow and ewe premium schemes and the 1999 special beef premium scheme. The livestock unit equivalent of any milk quota held is also added. This is calculated by dividing the milk quota by 897 gallons, the national average milk yield per cow.
The person named had 30.8 livestock units which are calculated as follows: special beef premium scheme 1999 – 10.8 livestock units; suckler cow premium scheme 2000 – 11.0 livestock units; milk quota of 8361 gallons at 1 April 2000 (divided by 897) – 9.0 livestock units.
As the livestock units of the person named exceed the upper limit of 30 livestock units, I regret to say that he does not qualify for an allocation of quota from this reserve.
In any event, because of the large number of applicants and the small amount of quota available for distribution, there was insufficient quota to allow allocations to be made to all eligible applicants under category C. The quota was allocated to eligible applicants in this category with ten livestock units first, then to those with 11 and so on until all the available quota was distributed. This occurred at 20 livestock units – farmers with livestock units greater than 20 did not receive an allocation of quota.
There were 815 applicants, seeking 20,101 premium rights, under category C whose livestock units are between 20 and 30 but regrettably there is no quota available to allow allocations to be made to them.
