Vol. 478 No. 3
122 Mr. J. Walsh asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry his views on the statement on page 50 of a report (details supplied) that the dairy hygiene scheme is having a significant impact on dairy farm development; and if he will restore the scheme and publish the report. [11016/97]
The report referred to by the Deputy is the Mid-Term Evaluation of the Operational Programme for Agriculture, Rural Development and Forestry under the Community Support Framework for Ireland (CSF) which was completed by independent consultants in January 1997. That evaluation included a review of the dairy hygiene scheme and it was in this context that the evaluators made the remarks about the scheme having a significant impact on dairy farm development. In fact, they were making the point that the scheme, as designed, covered investments which went beyond enabling the farmer comply with the Dairy Hygiene Directive 92/46/EEC. They went on to question whether, because of limited resources, any new scheme should be biased more in favour of the hygiene elements only.
The scheme was suspended in October 1996 when all available funds had been fully committed.Under Partnership 2000, the Government has indicated its intention to re-introduce, as a priority, this scheme and the scheme for the control of farm pollution if additional funds become available at the mid-term review.
The report is confidential at present as it is a first step in the overall review of the CSF. The ESRI are carrying out the evaluation of the CSF as a whole and it is expected that decisions on any reallocation of funds will be made at the CSF Monitoring Committee meeting in July 1997.
