Vol. 436 No. 7
48 Mr. McGrath asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the reason he has fixed a threshold of 70 map acres for applicants for the 5.3 million gallons of milk quota which he can now allocate; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
51 Mr. Noonan (Limerick East) asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the reason he has fixed a threshold of 70 map acres for applicants for the 5.3 million gallons of milk quota which he can now allocate; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
68 Mr. L. Burke asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the reason he has fixed a threshold of 70 map acres for applicants for the 5.3 million gallons of milk quota which he can now allocate; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
80 Mr. Barrett asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the reason he has fixed a threshold of 70 map acres for applicants for the 5.3 million gallons of milk quota which he can now allocate; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 48, 51, 68 and 80 together. Eligibility under the scheme whereby some 5.3 million gallons of milk will be distributed free of charge was based on two broad criteria: (i) economic dependence on milk production as evidenced by size of quota and of holding and level of off-farm income and (ii) commitment to milk production as evidence by past purchase or lease of additional quota and proportion of quota delivered in recent years. The detailed conditions chosen as fulfilling those two criteria were designed to ensure that they could be readily applied by the applicant's co-op or dairy and that successful applicants would obtain a meaningful quantity of additional quota.
In relation to the size of holding, the basic requirement is that the producer's holding should not be more than 70 acres. Recognising however that there are producers whose holdings exceed 70 acres but who, because of the poor quality of the land, are nonetheless small scale producers, I made special provision for acceptance of holdings of over 70 acres provided these producers derive at least 75 per cent of their farm income from milk production.
52 Mr. Currie asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry if he will establish an appeals system to deal with cases where farmers are refused all or part of their livestock premium applications; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
58 Mrs. T. Ahearn asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry if he will establish an appeals system to deal with cases where farmers are refused all or part of their livestock premium applications; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
78 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry if he will establish an appeals system to deal with cases where farmers are refused all or part of their livestock premium applications; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
87 Mr. Lowry asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry if he will establish an appeals system to deal with cases where farmers are refused all, or part, of their livestock premium applications; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 52, 58, 78 and 87 together.
There are satisfactory appeal arrangements within the Department open to farmers who are not satisfied with decisions on applications for premium and headage grants. The Department is the competent national authority for implementing the premium and headage schemes and, as such, must take all decisions relating to payment or refusal of payment under those schemes — it cannot delegate this function to a separate appeals body.
It can and does however take into account all elements of cases made on behalf of applicants by those applicants or their public representatives or their farm organisations or by their solicitors, accountants or agricultural consultants. It also takes into account the views of the Ombudsman in relation to any cases referred to him.
