John Ellis
Question:90 Mr. Ellis asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if his Department will make a REP scheme payment to a person (details supplied) in County Sligo. [12432/03]
Written Answers. - Grant Payments.
An application for payment was received in this case on 25 March 2003 and is being processed in accordance with the targets set down in the Protocol on Direct payments to Farmers.
Jim O'Keeffe
Question:91 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the reason the balance of the suckler cow premium 2002 has not been paid to many farmers; and if everything is in order for immediate payment. [12433/03]
The issue of the 20% balancing payment under the 2002 suckler cow premium scheme commenced on 30 April 2003. To date over 55,000 farmers representing 88% of applicants have received over €37 million in balancing payments. It is estimated that the amount outstanding to some 9,000 farmers is approximately €10 million.
The delay in issuing the balancing payments arose due to the requirement to apply penalties across all bovine premium schemes with effect from the 2002 scheme year and also because of problems with the overshoot of the special beef premium national quota. While the requirement to apply penalties across all bovine premium schemes under amending Regulation 2419/2001 will mean later balancing payments for 2002 and future years, the penalties that will be applied to the bovine schemes for irregularities and late lodgment of area aid applications will be much lighter than those that applied up to now.