Vol. 552 No. 3
86 Mr. Perry asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development when a REP scheme payment will issue to a person (details supplied); the reason for the delays; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12356/02]
There have been no delays in the processing of this application. The application was received in my Department on 19 February 2002 and is being processed in accordance with the targets set out in the protocol on direct payments to farmers.
87 Mr. D. Carey asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development when a person (details supplied) in County Clare will receive an area aid payment together with another grant for 2001; and the reason for the delay in this regard. [12370/02]
During the course of processing in the area aid unit a query arose on the right to claim on an area of land that overlapped with another herdowner's land parcel. My Department wrote to the person named on 11 September 2001, 11 October 2001 and 10 December 2001 requesting documentary proof of his entitlement to claim the area in question. The person named has now indicated that he is not entitled to the overlap and his application has been fully processed with an area determined for payment purposes of 64.41 hectares. Payment due under the 2001 area based compensatory allowance scheme will issue shortly.
88 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development if a person (details supplied) in County Mayo will receive area based payments for 2001, in view of their particular circumstances and the evidence submitted. [12371/02]
The 2001 area aid application of the person named was received late in the Department, but has been accepted on grounds of force majeure. The application has been fully processed with an area determined for payment purposes of 69.13 hectares. Payment due under the 2001 area based compensatory allowance scheme will issue shortly.
89 Mr. Dukes asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development the reason, out of a total voted provision of ?437,000 for grants for the development of the potato sector in 2001, a total of only ?331,000 was allocated; and the amount of the allocation of ?702,000 for 2002 which has to date been taken up. [12372/02]
In 2001 a total of 38 projects in the potato sector were approved for grant assistance totalling €1.186 million in respect of the Estimate provisions for 2001 and 2002. The conditions require each beneficiary to submit a fully supported payment claim on completion of an approved project before payment can be made. Only 11 beneficiaries submitted claims in adequate time for payment in 2001. The amount paid to these 11 beneficiaries was approximately €331,000. A total of €371,456 has been paid this year to date in respect of a further 14 projects. My Department has no additional claims on hand at this point.
90 Mr. Dukes asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development the reason a company (details supplied) in County Kildare was refused a capital grant for machinery used for the preparation of potatoes for sale. [12373/02]
Under the capital investment scheme for the marketing and processing of agricultural products, a total of 95 completed applications, of which 25 were from the potato sector, were received by my Department. As the funding under the scheme is limited, eligi bility alone does not necessarily confer an entitlement to grant aid and generally applications are required to undergo a competitive assessment and selection process.
Between them the 25 applications in the potato sector had a grant aid requirement of almost €10 million while the funding available amounted to €2.1 million. The applications were evaluated by reference to viability, target markets, their sectoral and regional impacts, particularly at primary producer level, and the extent to which they would improve the saleability of the primary product. Following the assessment process six projects, involving grant aid of €1.8 million, were recommended to me and I approved them. I expect to receive a further recommendation shortly regarding the unallocated balance of approximately €300,000. There will be further calls for proposals over the lifetime of the national development plan with the next call due in 2003.
