Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 February 2004
238 Mr. N. O’Keeffe asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if the medical condition of a person (details supplied) in County Cork and medical evidence supplied was taken into account when allocating an additional sucker cow quota; and if this person’s application will be reconsidered on hardship grounds with a view to granting an additional quota of ten. [6071/04]
View answerThe person named was allocated ten suckler cow quota units from the 2004 national reserve, which was the maximum allocated to any applicant regardless of his or her circumstances. According to the records in my Department, there was no medical evidence supplied by the person named with his application for additional suckler cow quota or to the local office of my Department with his suckler cow premium application. Furthermore, when an official from my Department contacted him on 19 December 2003 concerning the allocation of an additional six quota rights to the four he had already received, the person named did not mention any medical condition and indicated that the total allocation of ten quota rights from the 2004 national reserve would suffice. In any event, his medical history is not relevant to the criteria for allocating quota rights from the 2004 reserve.
As previously indicated in my reply to the Deputy on 29 January 2004, if the person named has more than 14 eligible animals, for which he has quota, 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 on all his eligible animals. However, 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.
