I propose to take Questions Nos. 61 to 69, inclusive, and No. 71.
The capital grant scheme operated by my Department for the marketing and processing of agricultural products applies to projects at or near farm level in the horticulture, potato, eggs, grain and livestock marketing and processing sectors which do not fall within the remit of the development agencies or are not covered by the Department's on farm schemes. Because the funding under the scheme is limited, eligibility alone does not necessarily confer an entitlement to grant aid and generally applications are required to undergo a competitive assessment and selection process. The first call for applications under this scheme was made last year with a closing date of 14 September. In the potato sector the total number of applications received by that date was 28. Two of these were found to be ineligible while a third was subsequently withdrawn leaving a total of 25 applications to be considered.
In cases where a project requires planning permission, it is not a condition of the scheme that this be obtained prior to submission of the application. Applicants are required to provide proof of lodgement of an application for planning permission and, of course, receipt of such permission is a prerequisite for the award of aid. Five of the projects referred to did not require planning permission and in the case of the remaining 20 the conditions which I have outlined were complied with fully. With one exception, all of the applicants were required to provide additional information for the purposes of clarifying various elements of their applications. In all cases it was considered that the initial and supplementary information provided was sufficient to facilitate assessment and evaluation of the applications without the need for on farm inspections.