Vol. 541 No. 3
85 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development when funding will be put in place to pay people whose applications for grant aid for slatted sheds were approved under the farm waste management schemes. [21573/01]
The national scheme for the control of farm pollution – now replaced by the new farm waste management scheme – was extremely successful and uptake exceeded all expectations. The problem in relation to this scheme is not unavailability of funds but that the EU-imposed ceiling for expenditure under this scheme has been reached. My Department has applied to the European Commission to formally raise the ceiling and a number of payments under the scheme, including payment to the person mentioned in the question, has been delayed pending receipt of this formal approval. Following recent discussions between my Department and the European Commission a positive response is expected very shortly. All payments will issue immediately approval is received.
