Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Minister on his appointment and wish him well. This is our first committee meeting. I welcome also the Department officials. I congratulate also Deputy Pat Deering on his appointment as committee chairperson.

The question I wish to put is on the beef data and genomics scheme. According to the Minister's projects what is the likely spend for the year? I am aware that €52 million has been allocated to the scheme. It has 25,000 participants and that the number predicted for the year is 27,000. Is it the Minister's intention to reopen the scheme to new entrants? Does he expect that €52 million to be spent this year and, if not, how much of it does he expect will be spent? Looking at the 2015 figures, initially €52 million was allocated towards the beef data and genomics scheme but only €35 million was spent. In the Supplementary Estimates, €17 million was removed from the allocation because of an underspend. Given that €17 million was underspent last year, are we facing a similar underspend this year? What happened to that underspend last year? Will it stay within the overall spend between now and 2020 and will it be available to be reallocated to other schemes?