Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 23 Nov 2000

Vol. 526 No. 5

Written Answers. - Grant Payments.

Denis Naughten

Question:

62 Mr. Naughten asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development when an appeal on behalf of a person (details supplied) in County Roscommon in relation to a special beef premium will be dealt with; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27156/00]

Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development (Mr. Walsh)

The herdowner lodged an appeal on 16 October 2000 concerning his 1999 special beef premium application. Appeals require individual examination and are dealt with in the order in which they are received. This appeal will be examined in due course and the herdowner will be notified of the outcome.

Paul McGrath

Question:

63 Mr. McGrath asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development the reason an installation aid grant has not been paid to a person (details supplied) in County Westmeath; if this payment will be made immediately; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27157/00]

Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development (Mr. Walsh)

Due to the volume of work on hands there has been an unavoidable delay in processing the application in this case. A final examination of the documentation submitted is presently being carried out and if the application is found to be in order, payment will be made within the next four weeks.

Dinny McGinley

Question:

64 Mr. McGinley asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development when cattle and sheep headage payments will be made to a person (details supplied) in County Donegal. [27158/00]

Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development (Mr. Walsh)

The 2000 area aid application for the person named has been fully processed. Payments due under his 2000 sheep headage application will issue as soon as possible. A 2000 cattle headage application has not been received from the herdowner.

David Stanton

Question:

65 Mr. Stanton asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development the changes which have been proposed in the method of calculating and paying the ewe premium to farmers; if so, if he will give details in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27159/00]

Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development (Mr. Walsh)

The consultant's report on the sheepmeat regime which was prepared for the EU Commission by independent consultants recommended that the Commission should consider three options relating to the ewe premium.

The three options put forward were the retention of the status quo; the correction of the inaccuracies in the price reporting system and the simplification of the current system by introducing a fixed premium.

The consultant's overall conclusion was that the current regime broadly meets its objectives at EU level but results in substantial variation in impact between member states. They concluded from this that there are sufficient serious weaknesses in the system and that the second and third options should be evaluated. On the second option, the consultants concluded that this option would improve the accuracy of the information on which the premium is calculated, but would result in a system which is more complicated to administer. They suggest that such changes could only be justified if they resulted in significant improvements in the calculation of the premium and that the real benefits to member states would need to be carefully evaluated.

The third option proposed by the consultants was a simplification of the current system by adopting a fixed headage or area based premium, with the possibility of differentiated payments taking into account different production systems and enterprise locations. They recommend, however, that the costs and benefits of moving towards a fixed premium should be further explored by the Commission.

The report is currently being considered by the Commission.

My Department is also examining the report, particularly the proposals for a fixed premium. The advantages of a fixed premium from the point of view of administrative convenience, budgetary certainty and consistency with the WTO are clearly set out in the report. However, there are also some disadvantages with such an approach, particularly in view of the wide fluctuations in prices from year to year. The variable ewe premium does have the important advantage that the premium is generally higher in a year when prices are low and, while it does not compensate fully for low prices, it does help to reduce income losses in difficult market conditions. The issue of the level at which a fixed premium should be set would also have to be addressed.