Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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Question 32: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the number of applications that have been received to date under the new scheme to attract new entrants to dairying; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26072/09]

Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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On 10 June 2009, the Minister announced details of the scheme for the allocation of milk quota to new entrants. While since then in excess of 80 application forms have issued to individuals who have expressed an interest in the scheme, no completed applications have, as yet, been returned to the Department. As the closing date is 31 July 2009, I expect that the majority of applications will arrive nearer that date.

The eligibility criteria for the scheme require that each applicant must satisfy certain education and training qualifications; have no milk quota, nor have been a producer previously; have a holding comprising lands owned and-or leased; have a separate independent herd number in which the dairy animals will be registered and have separate milking and milk storage facilities. The applicant must also submit a five-year business plan.

The closing date for applications is 31 July 2009 and it is expected that the assessment group will meet to consider applications in the week beginning 31 August 2009. Assessment of applications will be carried out by a group chaired by John Tyrrell, ICOS. New entrants who acquire quota under this scheme will be required to commence milk production by 1 April 2011.

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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Some of the farming organisations in Macra na Feirme have expressed disappointment that a number of farmers who acquired quota after 1 April have been excluded from the scheme. Will the Minister of State set out the reason or logic for excluding these farmers who were new entrants having only acquired quota after 1 April and will he state whether it is possible the Minister will reconsider his decision?

Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy will be aware, there must be a starting and closing date for all schemes. There is a pool of 13.5 million litres of milk which I understand will be sufficient to cater for 67 applicants. It is difficult to know at this stage how many applications have been made because historically applications to the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food tend to come in in the last day or two. Those of us who operate constituency offices, including the Leas-Cheann Comhairle, will be aware that they often arrive a day or two after the closing date.

It is difficult at this stage to predict how many applications will be received. As I stated, 80 forms have been issued, none of which has as yet been returned. It is difficult to make a call in respect of Deputy Sherlock's question until the final applications have been received, examined and adjudicated on by the panel.

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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I presume the Minister of State will confirm that it is the wish of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food that those new entrants that will acquire quota under this scheme will grow that enterprise and will in future milk trading opportunities increase their quota share. If that is the intention — nothing else would make sense because a quota of the size envisaged would not be economically viable in the long term — to take up the point made by Deputy Sherlock, it is foolish in the extreme of the Department, in the structuring of this scheme for new entrants, to penalise would-be new interests to dairying who, through their own initiative, have acquired quota through previous milk quota trading schemes but who received a derogation from product from the Department. I agree that anyone who has previously produced milk should be excluded but there are people who, when they saw this scheme coming, thought they would position themselves to have extra on top of what they could secure under that scheme by buying it under the milk quota trading scheme.

It is foolish, and I plead with the Minister of State to revisit the issue. He envisaged people would grow their quota after the allocation of the new entrants' amounts but those with the initiative to acquire quota prior to that date will be excluded from the scheme. It makes no sense. This is a handful of people who took a chance and hoped they would be approved under this scheme but who meet the criteria in all other respects. We are stifling their initiative to go out and acquire quota. It is foolish in the extreme.

Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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Deputy Creed is right. The intention would be that these farmers who would be allocated quota under this scheme would increase their quota and have viable holdings in the near future. Around 60 new entrants came into the dairying sector in the past year who might, had the scheme been in place, have had an expectation that it might cover them. As happens with all incentive schemes, the intention would be to encourage new entrants who, in the absence of this scheme, might not have even considered getting into dairying or found themselves unable to do it. The impact of this scheme would enable them to become participants in dairying.

Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I also ask the Minister of State to reconsider. In light of the fact that there is no installation aid, and the quantity is so small, does he believe young farmers will be able to take up the scheme? There is no longer any grant aid to build a milking unit or to build a house on a separate farm. How can the Minister of State expect young farmers to be able to use the scheme?

Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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The hope is that the level of incentive provided by the existence of the scheme will encourage people who otherwise might not be in a position to do so to enter. As I said to Deputy Sherlock, at this stage 80 application forms have been sent out and it is too early to predict how many valid applications will be made and how many of those will succeed when the adjudication panel sits. Until that stage it would be premature to consider any other kind of entrants.

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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The point I am making is not related to people who in recent times produced milk, I am talking about people who acquired the right to produce milk by virtue of purchasing quota and who received a derogation from the Department from an obligation to produce it. They had acquired this asset and hoped to be successful in the scheme for new entrants so they could amalgamate the asset they had not produced with the allocation under the new entrants scheme. It is a punishing initiative given the Government envisaged the new entrants would grow their enterprise and acquire more quota. This penalises the entrepreneurial spirit of those who took a risk. The new scheme does that and in the interest of the small handful of people who are in that situation they should not be penalised by excluding them from benefiting under this scheme.

Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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It is unlikely a scheme has ever been devised that has not thrown up hard luck cases or people who might have benefited from the scheme had they been aware of the conditions that might apply. I have listened to Deputies Creed, Crawford and Sherlock and it is a reasonable point but the outcome depends on the number who qualify for the present scheme because it is limited to 13.5 million litres.