Ned O'Keeffe
Question:61 Mr. N. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if he will allocate an additional milk quota to a person (details supplied) in County Cork. [14125/02]
Written Answers. - Milk Quota.
I introduced a scheme for the distribution of the balance of the Agenda 2000 milk quota among certain producers. Producers who satisfy certain criteria and who had been involved in the farm modernisation scheme or the reduced interest scheme for farmers in financial difficulty during the early 1980s or who were affected by an outbreak of animal disease in their herds during the late 1970s were eligible to apply.
A large volume of applications was received under this scheme and processing of these is taking place at present. An application was received from the person named. My Department will not be in a position to confirm whether individual applications are acceptable until a full assessment of the accompanying documentation has been conducted. The assessment of all of these applications involves a considerable amount of work and I am unable to say when that work will be completed and when allocations will be announced. My Department will endeavour to have the applications processed as quickly as possible. Allocations made under this scheme will be effective from the 2002-2003 milk quota year.