Vol. 487 No. 7
213 Proinsias De Rossa asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the number of persons convicted of offences relating to the use of growth promoters since July 1996; the number of these who were farmers; the number of convicted farmers who have not been excluded from bovine headage and premium schemes arising from these convictions; the reason this sanction was not applied; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5108/98]
Since 1 July 1996, 106 persons have been convicted of offences relating to illegal growth promoters, of whom 94 were farmers.
Council Regulation (EC) 894/96, which applies to offences occurring since 1 July 1996, provides for the exclusion of producers from the cattle premia and headage schemes for certain breaches of animal remedies legislation. It should be noted that under the EU legislation, a person must be excluded from these schemes once the breach has been established.
This administrative sanction has been applied in 18 cases, which constitute the total number of such breaches occurring since 1 July 1996. In only two of these cases has the matter come to trial at this stage.
