Vol. 510 No. 3
78 Mrs. B. Moynihan-Cronin asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development the number of applications received for the new installation aid grant; the number of applications remaining to be processed; the steps, if any, being taken to speed up processing of applications; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22426/99]
Since the introduction of the national installation aid scheme for young farmers in December 1998 a total of 805 applications have been received in the local offices of my Department. Of these, 295 applications have been approved and paid to date, involving expenditure of some £1.6 million. A further 13 were deemed ineligible as the applicants failed to meet the qualifying conditions under the scheme. There are 497 applications currently being processed by my Department.
Applications are processed in order of receipt as speedily as possible and I am satisfied there are no inordinate delays being experienced by applicants. I must point out that many of the applications on hand require further supporting documentation before a decision on eligibility can be determined. In these cases officials of my Department have written to the applicants requesting the documents needed and this inevitably causes a delay in the processing of some applications.
