Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 24 Feb 1999

Vol. 501 No. 1

Written Answers. - Grant Payments.

Jan O'Sullivan

Ceist:

60 Ms O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if all of the area aid applications received by his Department for 1998 have been processed; if not, the reason therefor; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5267/99]

Minister for Agriculture and Food (Mr. Walsh):

Area aid applications were received from over 132,500 farmers in 1998. All of these applications have been processed. Some 98 per cent have been cleared resulting in payments of some £590 million across a range of 1998 arable and livestock schemes.

The balance of some 3,000 applicants who have not yet received any payment have been contacted by my Department with a view to resolving outstanding problems with their applications.

Over the course of the 1998 processing year, the area aid unit contacted in excess of 90,000 herdowners because of difficulties with their applications. The main problems encountered were overclaims, duplicate claims, missing maps and incomplete applications.

I would like to take this opportunity to urge farmers who have not yet responded to the queries raised with them by my Department to do so at the earliest possible date.

In particular, I would urge the 12,000 forage applicants, who have been paid on reduced areas, to respond quickly to letters issued by the area aid unit with accompanying maps since the beginning of the year. Failure to resolve these problems will mean that in many cases no extensification payments can be made.