Vol. 527 No. 5
115 Mr. O'Shea asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development his views on whether the calculation of the level of sheep premium by reference to the European rather than Irish price would be of benefit to Irish farmers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29031/00]
The calculation of the annual ewe premium is based on a single income loss which is the difference between the basic price and the average EU price. This system was introduced in 1992. Prior to that the ewe premium was based on regionalised prices rather than prices in individual member states. A system based on Irish prices alone would be beneficial for Irish producers.
I have made strong representations to the EU Commission and to the Council of Agriculture Ministers over the years and most recently I raised it again at the recent sheepmeat conference in Brussels. I pointed out in particular that the question of the income gap between Irish and other EU producers needs to be addressed in any reform of the regime.
I will continue to press our case for a reform of the sheepmeat regime which addresses this issue.
116 Mr. Creed asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development when a person (details supplied) in County Cork will receive a headage grant. [29032/00]
The 2000 area aid application for the person named has been fully processed with no outstanding errors and the area for payment purposes has been determined at 47.91 hectares.
The person named applied on 34 animals under the 2000 cattle headage scheme. An examination of the application showed that one of the animals applied on, animal tag number 151265850125, which was declared on the application as having been born on 22 May 2000 was in fact registered on my Department's animal birth registration database as having been born on 14 June 2000, two weeks after the application under the 2000 cattle headage scheme was received. My Department wrote to the person named on 24 October 2000 advising him that he was ruled out of the cattle headage scheme for two years in accordance with clause 31(b) of the terms and conditions governing the scheme. He was given the opportunity to have this decision reviewed by writing to my Department setting out any facts which he wished to put forward to support his case. To date, no review has been requested by the person named.
