Vol. 559 No. 2
46 Mr. Deenihan asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if he will reverse his decision to increase disease levies by 100% in view of the fall in farm incomes in 2002; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25681/02]
47 Mr. Gilmore asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the reasons for the recent increase in disease levies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25779/02]
83 Mr. Perry asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food his proposals which may increase disease levies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25689/02]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 46, 47 and 83 together.
Later today, the Oireachtas Joint Committee for Agriculture and Food will deal with the motion requesting Oireachtas approval for draft regulations under the Bovine Diseases (Levies) Acts 1979 to 1996, the purpose of which is to fix the rates of diseases levies from 1 January 2003 at 1 cent per gallon of milk delivered for processing and at €5.08 per animal slaughtered or exported live. This is in line with the recently published Estimates provision for my Department indicating a doubling of the bovine diseases levies from 2003.
These levies have to be viewed in the context of a total provision in the 2003 Estimates for animal disease including BSE and so on of €216 million, of which €67 million relates to TB and brucellosis. The increases also have to be viewed against the background of the current overall budgetary situation, the Exchequer costs of the schemes and the fact that a major part of the expenditure relates to compensation, where the cost of reactors has increased under the on-farm valuation system. The higher rates of levies will bring in a total of approximately €20 million in a full year.
Revised arrangements for the TB and brucellosis eradication schemes were introduced with effect from April 1996 following agreement with the farming bodies. Under these arrangements, responsibility for arranging and paying for the first clear herd test each year was devolved to farmers. In recognition of this, the disease levies payable were reduced from £7.30 to £2.50 per animal and from 1.3 pence to 0.5 pence per gallon of milk. It was agreed that the levies would contribute some £10 million a year or 50% of compensation costs over the 1996 to 1999 period. For a variety of reasons, the levies contribution fell short of the 50% target. Compensation payments totalled some £120 million over the four years while levy receipts reached only £45 million for the same period.
