Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 12 October 2017
151. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if consideration will be given to revising the reference number allocated to a person (details supplied) in County Donegal in relation to the sheep welfare scheme. [43357/17]
View answerI launched the Sheep Welfare Scheme in 2016 to contribute to the continued development of animal and health welfare in the sheep sector. The scheme requires farmers to undertake two actions for a menu of possible actions in order to enhance the standards of animal welfare in the Irish sheep flock.
Under the scheme the number of breeding ewes returned on Sheep Census for the years 2014 and 2015 is used to establish a reference number for payment for the duration of the scheme. This approach to setting a reference number was a prerequisite for agreeing the Scheme with the EU Commission for inclusion in our Rural Development Programme, 2014-2020.
All flock owners are required to return an annual Sheep Census, and this is the basis for the calculation of reference numbers under the Scheme. The person named has been assigned a reference number of 72, which has been calculated on the following numbers declared by the person named in his Census return:
|
Census Return - Year |
Breeding Ewes |
|
2014 |
65 |
|
2015 |
78 |
|
Average = Reference Number |
72 |
The person named lodged an appeal regarding his reference number with my Department in August 2017. This appeal was not upheld and the person named has been advised of this outcome, and of the option to further appeal this finding to the Agriculture Appeals Office.
