Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The allocation for last year was approximately €20 million. In terms of the total allocation for the scheme and the actual expenditure that has been committed so far, the following figures apply: dairy equipment, €45 million; poultry welfare, €16 million; sow welfare, €13 million; sheep fencing and handling, €8 million; rainwater harvesting, €8 million; and bioenergy, €20 million. The total amount is €110 million. Subsequently, we transferred some of the money from the rainwater harvesting scheme to the dairy sector. We also transferred money to the sow welfare scheme in order to try to encourage compliance. We were under some pressure to achieve the latter. That was the correct decision to take at the end of last year.

The figures relating to the amount of money committed to date are: dairy equipment, €34.1 million; poultry welfare, €11.9 million; sow welfare, €13.6 million - this is above the €13 million originally allocated and I have just explained the reasons for it; sheep fencing and handling, only €3 million of €8 million allocated; rainwater harvesting, €300,000 of the €8 million allocated; and bioenergy, €1.37 million of the €20 million allocated. We are reallocating as appropriate. Obviously, however, we want to draw down as much of the funding as possible because it is co-funding that is at issue here.

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