asked the Minister for Agriculture when advance part payment of £15 per livestock unit for suckler cow premiums will be made to farmers in disadvantaged areas in Cork, in view of the fact that advance payments have been made in disadvantaged areas in other counties.
Written Answers. - Grant Payments.
80.
In the interest of getting the £4 million in advance headage payments of £15 per cow as quickly as possible at the end of April to the beef cow farmers in the disadvantaged areas who were worst affected by the fodder crisis, it was necessary to confine payments to those northern and western counties which are wholly classified as disadvantaged. To make advance beef cow payments in areas of counties which are only part-classified such as west Cork would have meant diverting the Department's computer staff and resources to this task at the expense of delaying by at least a month the payments of ewe premiums of over £30 million in Cork and elsewhere which will commence in a fortnight's time and continue into July. I am, however, arranging that priority in payment (of the full headage) will be given in the autumn to beef cow farmers in west Cork and other areas who did not receive the advance.
81.
asked the Minister for Agriculture if a hardship grant will be paid to a person (details supplied) in County Galway.
Payment under the depopulation (formerly hardship) scheme could not be considered in this case since it was not necessary to slaughter the entire herd in the interests of disease eradication. The persons in question received their full entitlement by way of reactor grants that is £85 each for five carcases weighing 182 kgs or over.