Jim Higgins
Question:78 Mr. Higgins (Mayo) asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development the reason for the delay in a suckler cow payment in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Mayo. [30081/01]
Written Answers. - Grant Payments.
The person named applied on 13 cows and one heifer under the 2001 suckler cow premium scheme. She disposed of animal tag number PRA017719 listed on the application and replaced it with animal tag number AGA475982. On 12 November 2001, my Department wrote to the person named informing her that details of the movement of this animal were not notified to the South-Western Cattle Breeding Society. This information was received and updated on 15 November 2001. The matter has now been resolved and payment will issue shortly.
Paul Connaughton
Question:79 Mr. Connaughton asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development the reason a suckler cow grant payment was not made to a person (details supplied) in County Galway; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30106/01]
The person named applied on 79 animals under the 2001 suckler cow premium scheme on 29 June 2001. The application was cross-checked against my Department's cattle movement monitoring system and it was found that one of the animals applied on was not in his herd at the date of application. Our records show that it moved into his herd only on 12 July 2001.
Clause 20 (iii) of the terms and conditions governing the 2001 suckler cow premium scheme requires that animals applied on must be "owned, possessed, held and maintained on his-her holding by the producer at the date of application". The penalty for a false declaration made through serious negligence is the loss of all suckler cow premium for the year in question. Consequently, my Department has now written to the person named advising him that no payment will issue to him under the 2001 suckler cow premium scheme. He has been given the opportunity of having this decision reviewed by writing to my Department within the next 21 days setting out any facts which may support his case.
Paul Connaughton
Question:80 Mr. Connaughton asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development when a suckler cow grant payment will be made to a person (details supplied) in County Galway; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30107/01]
Payment of the 80% advance under the 2001 suckler cow premium scheme, amounting to £389.66, 494.76, has now issued to the person named.
Paul Connaughton
Question:81 Mr. Connaughton asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development the basic qualifying criteria for the area-based payments scheme; and if a farm with non-registered horses is entitled to claim only area-based payments. [30109/01]
Under the terms and conditions of the 2001 disadvantaged areas compensatory allowance scheme, an applicant to be eligible for payment must be a person aged 18 years or over and hold a herd number issued by the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development; occupy and farm a minimum of three hectares of forage land in a disadvantaged area; reside within daily commuting distance, 70 miles, of the holding on which compensatory allowance is being claimed; undertake to remain in farming for five years from the first payment of compensatory allowance; comply with good farming practice as published by the Department in the CAP Rural Development Plan 2000-2006; comply with the EU Hormones Directives 96/22/EC and 96/23/EC; and meet a minimum stocking level of 0.15 livestock units equivalent-forage hectare of the entire holding in 2000. This minimum stocking level will not apply where the rural environment protection scheme or other recognised environmental measures require a lower stocking density.
However, farmers who are unable to meet the minimum stocking density but who qualified for headage grants in 2000 in respect of cattle and-or sheep may qualify for payment under the new scheme, provided their land is being utilised and is not in danger of undergrazing.
Livestock units, LUs, are calculated as follows. Bovines over two years of age equal one LU; bovines two years old and under equal 0.6 LU; registered breeding mares registered in the Irish horse register or with the Connemara Pony Breeders' Society equal 1 LU; female breeding deer equal 0.3 LU; and sheep and goats equal 0.15 LU.
An applicant under the disadvantaged areas compensatory allowance scheme who has non-registered horses only is not eligible for area-based payments.
Gerry Reynolds
Question:82 Mr. G. Reynolds asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development if, further to Parliamentary Question No. 222 of 20 November 2001, he will indicate the reason it is not possible to provide the material requested; and if he will reconsider providing the information requested. [30110/01]
The reason it is not possible to provide the names and addresses of all farm families in counties Sligo and Leitrim who are in receipt of premia payments of less than £10,000 is that the information involved is personal information held on a computer database and is protected under the Data Protection Act, 1988. Therefore, as I understand the matter, the information may not be disclosed without the consent of the data subjects concerned.
Seamus Kirk
Question:83 Mr. Kirk asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development if it is possible to identify from his Department's integrated information systems the percentage of farmers who have persistent difficulties with applications for area aid, headage, and premium payments; if he will consider a special help or advisory initiative to eliminate or minimise payment loss to the farmers in question; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30124/01]
Following from the 1992 CAP reform the most persistent difficulty encountered by farmers in completing application forms for the various headage and premium schemes was the incorrect transcription of cattle ear-tag numbers. Such tag numbers were invariably rejected following validation against my Department's computerised database, resulting query letters having to be issued to a large number of farmers seeking the correct tag number. That difficulty has been largely eliminated following the very substantial simplification of the application forms over the past couple of years. The introduction of printed cattle identification documents or "passports" and the use of associated bar coding has facilitated a major simplification of the application forms for the special beef premium and suckler cow premium schemes.
In addition, farmers are being paid their entitlements under the new slaughter premium scheme without the need for any application. Payments are being made using information held on the Department's computerised database, CMMS. The whole application process has been further simplified this year by the introduction of the new area-based compensatory allowance scheme which replaces five animal based schemes under the old animal headage regime.
When new schemes are launched representatives from my Department meet with representatives from Teagasc to brief them on details of the schemes. My Department and Teagasc also arrange public meetings to brief farmers and others who have an interest in the schemes. Where necessary my Department produces booklets on new schemes for the assistance of all interested parties. Help sheets are also issued with the individual application forms which are preprinted with the farmer's name and address and herd number. In addition, staff in the local offices of my Department provide information and help where necessary. I am satisfied that through the progressive use of information technology the application processes for these schemes have been substantially simplified and that the help and advisory initiatives in place are adequate.
Brendan Smith
Question:84 Mr. B. Smith asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development his proposals to increase the level of payment under the ewe premium scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30125/01]
The EU Commission's proposal to replace the existing variable ewe premium with a fixed premium of 21 per head was rejected by the Council at the meeting of EU Agriculture Ministers last week. The final presidency compromise provided for the basic premium of 21 per head to be supplemented by the equivalent of 1 per head in the form of a national envelope. However, this compromise was rejected by some member states, including Ireland, as being insufficient and by others because it was too generous and too costly. There were also a number of other member states who had indicated that they would vote against any further increase in the sheep meat budget which, if the presidency compromise had been adopted, would have been fixed at approximately 1.9 billion per annum. This outcome demonstrates fairly starkly the difficulties in securing any improvement when the negotiations resume next month.
I made a strong case in the negotiations for the premium to be fixed at a level that ensures that sheep meat remains a viable farm enterprise. I also sought the introduction of an extensification premium for sheep in order to redress the unequal treatment of sheep producers within the cattle extensification system. The current climate is not the most opportune for negotiating a reform of the sheep meat regime. Many member states who are not significant producers of sheep meat are extremely concerned about the budgetary situation and the need to comply with the financial perspectives agreed in Berlin in 1999. The negotiations are also taking place in a context where current sheep prices in Ireland are on average 40% higher than last year and the ewe premium this year is likely to be below 10. While the current price levels are the product of a particular situation – and there is no guarantee that these price levels will continue into the future – they are a significant factor in current negotiations. I intend to continue to work for a more satisfactory outcome at the next meeting of the council in December.