Vol. 560 No. 1
233 Mr. Connaughton asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the reason the remaining part of the 2002 suckler cow grant cannot be paid earlier than April 2003; if his attention has been drawn to the huge pressure on farm incomes; and if this payment will be made during the month of February 2003. [1448/03]
The position is that under new arrangements introduced with effect from 1 January 2002 all bovine premia scheme applications must be processed at producer level rather than appli cation level. This means that before balancing payments can be made all applications under the special beef premium scheme, the suckler cow premium scheme and the slaughter premium scheme must be examined together to establish, in the case of the suckler cow premium and special beef premium, if stocking density levels have been complied with and-or if there is non-compliance under any of the schemes. Any penalty arising from non-compliance would have to takes into account the total number of eligible animals under each of the schemes.
While the producer approach will cause a slight delay in the issue of balancing payments under the suckler cow scheme the overall effect will be that any penalties imposed will be more proportional than heretofore. This arises because the number of non-compliant animals are divided by all the eligible animals under the three schemes as distinct from the number of eligible animals for the individual scheme as was the case up to now.
An additional factor in 2002 is that the national quota for the special beef premium scheme has been exceeded with an increase in the number of animals submitted for the premium in late December 2002. It will not be possible to definitively determine the exact percentage overshoot until such time as the two months retention period has ended and all applications are processed. When eligibility has been established under the bovine schemes and the special beef premium quota overshoot has been determined balancing payments will commence.
My Department is conscious of the pressures on farm income and will make every effort, taking into account the outstanding issues referred to above, to ensure balancing payments will issue at the earliest possible date. Last autumn I negotiated an 80% advance payment level under these schemes for 2002.
234 Mr. Connaughton asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the reason the 2002 suckler cow grant has not been awarded to a person (details supplied) in County Galway; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1449/03]
The person named applied for premium on 26 animals under the 2002 suckler cow premium scheme on 28 June 2002. An inspection of all claimed and unclaimed animals in his herd was carried out on 13 August 2002. During this inspection it was found that 20 unclaimed animals were not registered on the cattle movement monitoring system, CMMS, and my Department wrote to him on 9 December 2002 advising that, accordingly, his premium entitlement would be subject to a reduction penalty in accordance with the terms and conditions governing the scheme. He was given the opportunity to have this decision reviewed. The person named wrote to my Department on 23 December 2002 requesting a review and explaining that he had not been well during the year. As a medical certificate was pro vided to substantiate his illness and as all animals in his herd have now been registered on the CMMS my Department has written to him to advise that the decision to apply the penalty has been rescinded. The 80% advance under the 2002 suckler cow premium scheme will now issue to the person named.
