Suckler Cow Quota.

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 29 January 2004

Thursday, 29 January 2004

Questions (91)

Ned O'Keeffe

Question:

88 Mr. N. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the outcome of contact between his officials and a person (details supplied) in County Cork in relation to their suckler cow quota and their application for additional units. [2629/04]

Written answers

Minister for Agriculture and Food (Mr. Walsh)

The person named originally held four suckler cow quota rights when he submitted an application for an allocation of additional quota from the 2004 suckler cow national reserve. His application was processed and he was allocated four additional quota rights and was notified accordingly. Following the subsequent contact with the person named on 19 December 2003, an additional six quota rights were allocated to him from the 2004 suckler cow national reserve. Since he had already received four additional quota rights from the reserve, this brought his total allocation to ten premium rights, which was the maximum allocation that any applicant received from the 2004 national reserve. His total suckler cow quota was therefore increased from four, which he originally had, to 14 premium rights for the 2004 suckler cow premium scheme. A letter confirming the additional allocation and his new quota issued to him on 19 December 2003.

If the person named has more than 14 suckler cows on which he wishes to claim suckler cow premium under the 2004 scheme, he may purchase or lease in additional quota in order to qualify for payment. It should be noted that it will be essential to lodge an area aid application in 2004 if the person named wants to qualify for payment in excess of 15 livestock units.