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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 19 Nov 2002

Vol. 557 No. 4

Written Answers. - Grant Payments.

Billy Timmins

Ceist:

173 Mr. Timmins asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the reason his Department did not move to a system of calculating extensification premium stocking rates based on 365 days per year as opposed to five census dates, which cause serious distortions to the beef price several times per year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22718/02]

Moving to a system of calculating stocking density based on 365 days would involve establishing the tag numbers of all animals on holdings at any time throughout the year, looking at their ages and, in the case of females under two years, checking whether they had calved, establishing the number of days they were on the holding and attributing a livestock unit value of one to animals over two years or cows present on holdings for a full year or a proportionate part of a livestock unit for other cattle aged over six months. This exercise would involve a considerable amount of processing time for the 110,000 farmers who participate in the scheme and could give rise to payments being delayed with consequent irritation to farmers. As a result, my Department considered it prudent to retain the five census dates system with the improvement of using the database to establish the numbers of bovine animals to be taken into account.

I am conscious, however, of the possibility of census dates affecting the market and with the new flexibility allowed by the CMMS database, the census dates will vary to a greater extent than in the past. This will make it more difficult to anticipate them. EU regulations provide that census dates cannot be announced until at least two weeks after they have passed. The timing of notification of census dates can also be used to make it more difficult to predict when they occur.

Dinny McGinley

Ceist:

174 Mr. McGinley asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food when cattle headage for 1999 will be awarded to a person (details supplied)) in County Donegal. [22719/02]

As stated in my reply to Parliamentary Question No. 72 of 20 June 2002, the person named was informed on 18 February 2000 by his district livestock office that his 1999 cattle headage grants were being refused because he had failed to comply with the provisions of the Diseases of Animals Act, 1966. He was given the opportunity to have this decision reviewed by writing to my Department within 21 days setting out any facts which he wished to put forward to support his case. He asked for a review by letter dated 28 February 2001. His case was examined and the original decision was upheld. He was notified of the results of the review by letter of 10 April 2001 and was given the opportunity to appeal the decision to the headage and premia appeals unit. His case was fully examined in the appeals unit, where the decision to refuse grants was upheld, and he was notified of same by letter of 15 October 2001. At his request, his case was further examined at an oral hearing on 19 December 2001, but the appeals unit did not amend its original findings and informed him accordingly by letter of 9 January 2002.

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