Ned O'Keeffe
Ceist:94 Mr. N. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if a person (details supplied) in County Waterford will be allocated an additional milk quota under the farm modernisation scheme. [15125/02]
Written Answers. - Milk Quota.
I introduced a scheme for the distribution of the balance of the Agenda 2000 milk quota among certain producers. Producers who satisfy certain criteria and who had been involved in the farm modernisation scheme or the reduced interest scheme for farmers in financial difficulty during the early 1980s, or who were affected by an outbreak of animal disease in their herds during the late 1970s, were eligible to apply. A large volume of applications well received under this scheme and processing of these is taking place at present.
An application was received from the person named. My Department will not be in a position to confirm whether individual applications are acceptable until a full assessment has been conducted of the accompanying documentation. The assessment of these applications involves a considerable amount of work and I am unable to say at this point when that work will be completed and, accordingly, when allocations will be announced. My Department will endeavour to have the applications processed as quickly as possible. Allocations made under this scheme will be effective from the 2002-03 milk quota year.