The allocation of milk quota from the national reserve is granted on the basis of recommendations from the milk quota appeals tribunal. The tribunal is a body established to consider and advise on applications for additional quota from individual producers who have suffered severe hardship in the context of the milk quota system. It also examines applications from producers whose herds have been restricted by animal disease. The tribunal has concluded its work on the hardship and animal disease applications for the 2002-03 milk quota year and all quota available for those categories in that year has been allocated. Details of the 2003-04 schemes will be announced later this year and application forms will be available from co-operatives and from milk policy division, Department of Agriculture and Food, Kildare Street, Dublin 2.
In the 2002-03 milk quota year the tribunal also considered appeals by producers under the 32 million litre scheme which was put in place to allocate the balance of the Agenda 2000 milk quota to certain categories of small and medium scale milk producers who satisfied certain criteria. Approximately five million litres is yet to be allocated under this scheme. The work on assessing the approximately 1,800 appeals arising from the scheme will be completed in the near future and all appellants will then be advised of the outcome in their case.