Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Two applied. The breakdown of unsuccessful applicants was five in cereals, 70 in beef, and 28 in lamb. Returning to the press statement when I opened the scheme that on the recommendation of the group, which had all the stakeholders, that this would be targeted in areas where there was a specific market deficit. As I said in my opening response, 50 marks were based on size but there were also 50 marks for the sectoral areas in which people were involved. My press release last year stated that this would be ranked on the basis of those priority schemes on foot of the strategy group's recommendation.

On the delay, the transitional arrangements to the next Common Agricultural Policy will allow us the opportunity to try to get a new scheme in place. This has been the Department's most successful scheme. Funding has been increased this year to €12 million. There are real market opportunities which we need to grow. We will work to get a new scheme open as soon as possible. This was an extension of the scheme. The budget provided was double what was anticipated.

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