I propose to take Questions Nos. 40 and 49 together.
Legal proceedings, which were initiated by a limited number of plaintiffs in 1990, are still before the high court following judgments given in their favour in the Supreme Court in 1997. These proceedings relate to the assessment of damages in respect of seven plaintiffs involved in the Duff case and some 100 other plaintiffs involved in associated cases.
During the course of these proceedings my Department presented information to the court on the number of participants in the farm modernisation scheme and in the rescue package during the early 1980s. This information was based on ACOT and Teagasc surveys on the number of participants in these schemes who were following dairying plans during the period in question.
It was estimated that some 13,000 farmers participating in the farm modernisation scheme were following dairying development plans and that 11,000 of these had not achieved their milk production targets by the end of 1983. There were a further 3,000 persons with dairying investment plans involved in the rescue package at that stage. My Department also calculated that the difference between these producers' end-of-plan targets and their initial quota allocation amounted to approximately 87 million gallons.
I have made no special provisions in respect of any persons or group of persons who are not party to the proceedings in the Duff case and other associated cases. I have received legal advice to the effect that any proceedings that may be initiated by such persons are barred by the passage of time. Therefore the estimate being sought by the Deputy does not arise.
It would not, in any case, be possible to make any meaningful estimate in relation to quota or compensation given the individual nature of these cases.
