Vol. 556 No. 5
11 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the situation regarding the allocation of the additional seven million gallons of milk quota as outlined in agenda; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20691/02]
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 considerable progress has been made towards the finalisation of allocations. My Department will not be in a position to confirm whether individual applications are acceptable until a full assessment of the accompanying documentation in all cases has been conducted. The amount of quota to be allocated to any eligible applicant can be determined only when all eligible applications have been processed. I expect that the allocations will be made shortly. Allocations made under this scheme may be used to cover milk delivered during the 2002-03 quota year.
