Vol. 428 No. 2
108 Mr. Hilliard asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry if he intends to allow Irish sheep farmers the benefit of two premia application periods as applies to the sheep farmers in the UK; if not, the reason therefor; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
In accordance with normal practice the application period here was set for early March. The date was subsequently extended to 19 March 1993 in order to give more time to farmers to submit their applications. Later in the year, I will be reviewing our experience of implementing the Common Agricultural Policy reform measures and in that context I would hope to be able to agree to an earlier application period in future years.
