Peadar Clohessy
Ceist:80 Mr. Clohessy asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry if the payment period for slaughter premia is in accord with his charter of farmers rights; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11246/95]
Written Answers. - Grant Payments.
The charter of rights for farmers states that the objective is to make payments under the slaughter premium scheme within 60 days of application. In general this target is being achieved in non-problem cases and there has been a considerable advance in the payment situation by comparison with previous years.
Payments under the 1995 slaughter premium schemes commenced on 20 April, over two months ahead of the commencement date of 30 June which applied in 1994. To date, 7,368 of the 12,418 applicants have been paid premium totalling some £4.65 million.
Every effort is being made to further improve the delivery of slaughter premium payments with the view to achieving the charter of rights commitment in full. The payment situation has, however, improved very significantly in 1995 given that a comparable level of payment was only achieved in early September under the 1994 scheme.