Vol. 478 No. 3
103 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the number of letters sent to farmers by his Department regarding headage payments; if there was any noticeable issue which required additional letters to be issued; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10993/97]
Statistics are not maintained in a manner which would enable a reply to be given on the overall number of letters which my Department issues to farmers regarding headage and premia schemes.
The position is that initially application forms and terms and conditions for the various schemes are issued directly to those farmers who participated in the schemes in the previous years. Farmers are informed in writing of any problems that arise in relation to their completed application forms. The main problems which arise during processing of applications are incorrect or invalid tag numbers of animals, failure to sign the application or omission of some other essential information from the application form. In addition, problems which arise in the course of on-farm inspections are communicated to farmers in writing.
There is no noticeable issue which gave rise to additional letters being issued to farmers.
