asked the Minister for Agriculture the number of applicants for aid from each county under his Department's feed voucher scheme.
Written Answers. - Feed Voucher Scheme.
341.
Following is the information requested by the Deputy:
|
County |
No. of Applicants under the Feed Voucher Scheme |
|
Carlow |
510 |
|
Cavan |
4,820 |
|
Clare |
5,300 |
|
Cork |
6,140 |
|
Donegal |
7,190 |
|
Dublin |
100 |
|
Galway |
11,130 |
|
Kerry |
7,420 |
|
Kildare |
370 |
|
Kilkenny |
1,130 |
|
Laois |
1,100 |
|
Leitrim |
3,930 |
|
Limerick |
2,920 |
|
Longford |
2,160 |
|
Louth |
580 |
|
Mayo |
12,010 |
|
Meath |
1,460 |
|
Monaghan |
3,600 |
|
Offaly |
1,630 |
|
Roscommon |
5,820 |
|
Sligo |
4,160 |
|
Tipperary |
2,770 |
|
Waterford |
890 |
|
Westmeath |
1,620 |
|
Wexford |
870 |
|
Wicklow |
690 |
342.
asked the Minister for Agriculture if he will consider doubling the headage payments for all farmers in the disadvantaged areas of County Limerick having regard to their present disastrous financial situation due to the inclement weather of 1985.
To double the 1985 headage payment rates in County Limerick would involve doubling them also in all other areas which are designated as disadvantaged. This would cost over £30 million and current constraints upon Exchequer resources make this impossible.
However, the issue of vouchers under the feed voucher scheme together with the other relief measures undertaken by the Government, should alleviate the position of farmers in County Limerick and elsewhere who were adversely affected by the inclement weather of 1985.
343.
asked the Minister for Agriculture the number of farmers in County Limerick who applied for aid under his Department's feed voucher scheme; the number of applicants who have been paid to date and the total amount of money involved in these payments; the number of applicants who live in disadvantaged areas in County Limerick; and if he is satisfied that sufficient grant-aid is being made to the most needy cases.
Some 2,920 farmers in County Limerick applied for aid under the feed voucher scheme, and feed vouchers for £399,000 and 3,870 tonnes of cheap intervention grain have now been issued to 2,433 of these. Separate records are not kept of the number of applicants in disadvantaged areas.
The level of aid under the scheme is generous given the difficult budgetary situation and the conditions of the scheme were designed to ensure that those farmers in greatest need benefit most.
344.
asked the Minister for Agriculture how his Department can say to an applicant under the feed voucher scheme of 1985-86 that the quantity of winter feed declared by the applicant has been assessed as over 75 per cent of his requirements when no representative from his Department or any other organisation visited the applicant and examined the quality of the feed stocks on hand.
As some 90,000 applications have been received under the feed voucher scheme it has not been possible to carry out on-farm inspections in all cases. Assessment of applicants which have not been inspected is based on information on livestock numbers and fodder stocks supplied by the applicants.
It is recognised that the feeding quality of fodder this winter is below normal standards and this has been taken into account in assessing fodder supplies on farms.