Results 12,201-12,220 of 18,496 for speaker:Brendan Smith

Written Answers — Grant Payments: Grant Payments (6 Jul 2010)

Brendan Smith: The person concerned is an applicant under the Young Farmers' Installation Scheme. Under the terms of the Scheme, payment of the grant is made once it has been established that the requirements of the Scheme have been met, including the conditions in relation to property, education and income. The outcome of my Department's examination of the application will be made known to the applicant...

Written Answers — Grant Payments: Grant Payments (6 Jul 2010)

Brendan Smith: The person concerned is an applicant under the Young Farmers' Installation Scheme. Under the terms of the Scheme, payment of the grant is made once it has been established that the requirements of the Scheme have been met, including the conditions in relation to property, education and income. The outcome of my Department's examination of the application will be made known to the applicant...

Written Answers — Farm Schemes: Farm Schemes (6 Jul 2010)

Brendan Smith: By the closing date of 17 May 2009, my Department had received over 9,000 applications under the recently introduced Agri-environmental Options Scheme from farmers who, if they prove eligible, will be entitled to up to €5,000 per year for the period ending 31 December 2015. Together with ongoing commitments in REPS, this means that all EU funding for agri-environment payments up to the end...

Written Answers — Bovine Diseases: Bovine Diseases (6 Jul 2010)

Brendan Smith: I am aware that there has been an increase in the incidence of Brucellosis in certain parts of Northern Ireland, particularly Co Armagh, since the beginning of 2010. However, based on available figures, the number of outbreaks in the province as a whole in the period January to April has fallen from 83 in 2008 to 36 in 2009 and again to 25 this year. Notwithstanding the improvement in the...

Written Answers — Grant Payments: Grant Payments (6 Jul 2010)

Brendan Smith: In general, the payment deadlines set down in the Farmers Charter for 2010 have been met with the exception of the REPS scheme and the Young Farmers Installation Aid Scheme where some delays have occurred. I recently established a Farmers Charter Monitoring Committee which will meet later this month to monitor the implementation of the Charter.

Written Answers — Grant Payments: Grant Payments (6 Jul 2010)

Brendan Smith: The application of the person named under the 2009 Single Payment Scheme has now been fully processed and payment will issue later this week, directly to the nominated bank account of the person named.

Written Answers — Common Agricultural Policy: Common Agricultural Policy (6 Jul 2010)

Brendan Smith: An own initiative report on the future of the CAP after 2013, prepared by MEP George Lyon, was agreed by the European Parliament's Agriculture Committee last month. That report will be voted on at the plenary session of Parliament in July. This is the first own initiative report to be prepared by the European Parliament on the future of the CAP after 2013. A second report will be prepared...

Written Answers — Grant Payments: Grant Payments (6 Jul 2010)

Brendan Smith: The person named began her REPS 3 contract on 1 October 2006. She was paid in advance on 23 November 2009 for the contract year beginning on 1 October 2009 and therefore there is no payment due to her.

Written Answers — Farm Schemes: Farm Schemes (6 Jul 2010)

Brendan Smith: Under EU Regulations, all applications for the Agri-Environment Options Scheme must be administratively checked for eligibility before approval can issue. This process is under way and will be completed as quickly as possible. My Department has already written to all applicants acknowledging receipt of their applications, and advising them that once all applications have been assessed they...

Written Answers — Beef Sector: Beef Sector (6 Jul 2010)

Brendan Smith: Officials of my Department are currently examining the new computer generated reports required to report beef carcase classification data in a format compatible with the new beef pricing grid (MII Grid). The new reports will be available once the necessary IT software programming is completed.

Written Answers — Grant Payments: Grant Payments (6 Jul 2010)

Brendan Smith: The number of applicants in each county and the numbers that have been paid in full up to 1 July 2010 are set out in the following table. County Applicants Paid Carlow 300 283 Cavan 1,101 919 Clare 1,333 1,275 Cork 3,221 2,346 Donegal 1,898 1,750 Dublin 51 38 Galway 2,757 2,377 Kerry 1,999 1,321 Kildare 373 337 Kilkenny 833 776 Laois 761 711 Leitrim 880 741 Limerick 1,344...

Written Answers — On-farm Investment Schemes: On-farm Investment Schemes (6 Jul 2010)

Brendan Smith: My Department has received EU approval for the introduction of a number of new on-farm investment schemes, including the provision of grant-aid for dairy equipment, water conservation, and sheep fencing and mobile handling facilities. However, due to the relatively short time-frames for completion of work, my priority has been the introduction of the Poultry and Sow Welfare Schemes which...

Written Answers — Rural Environment Protection Scheme: Rural Environment Protection Scheme (6 Jul 2010)

Brendan Smith: The following tables provide a breakdown of REPS 3 and REPS 4 payments issued between 1 January and 1 July 2010. REPS 3 County Number paid Amount Carlow 73 â'¬453,453 Cavan 368 â'¬1,960,711 Clare 430 â'¬2,770,812 Cork 625 â'¬4,122,825 Donegal 874 â'¬5,397,318 Dublin 23 â'¬124,123 Galway 1,315 â'¬7,724,031 Kerry 520 â'¬3,681,734 Kildare 123 â'¬742,307 Kilkenny...

Written Answers — Grant Payments: Grant Payments (6 Jul 2010)

Brendan Smith: Under the provisions of the governing EU Regulations, payments under both the Single Payment Scheme and the Disadvantaged Areas Scheme may be made only in respect of eligible land. Applicants under the Schemes are obliged annually to declare the land parcels available to them and details of the eligible area of the land parcels are recorded onto the Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS),...

Written Answers — Disadvantaged Areas Scheme: Disadvantaged Areas Scheme (6 Jul 2010)

Brendan Smith: As the Deputy is aware, the EU Court of Auditors raised concerns about the procedures for the designation of intermediate Disadvantaged Areas (also known as Less Favoured Areas) in the European Union. The concerns related to the number and variety of criteria used to designate such areas - Member States have used more than one hundred criteria - and the lack of transparency. The EU...

Written Answers — Flood Relief: Flood Relief (6 Jul 2010)

Brendan Smith: Mindful of the hardship and distress caused by the widespread flooding experienced during the latter part of last year, on 27 November 2009 I announced the introduction of the Fodder Aid Scheme, targeted directly at those farmers who encountered damage to fodder in the affected areas. While I was very anxious that the funding reach the affected farmers as quickly as possible, it was essential...

Written Answers — Farm Retirement Scheme: Farm Retirement Scheme (6 Jul 2010)

Brendan Smith: My Department received 175 applications following the temporary reopening of the Early Retirement Scheme from 23 September to 30 October 2009. The applications are being processed and, to date, 71 have been approved for payment. Twelve of the applications could not be accepted for processing and a further four applications have been rejected following processing as they did not meet the...

Written Answers — Grant Payments: Grant Payments (6 Jul 2010)

Brendan Smith: The Dairy Hardship Compensation Fund is part of a package of measures agreed at the Council of Agriculture and Fisheries Ministers, as part of which €300 million was made available to support dairy farmers across the EU who were severely affected by the fall in milk prices. Each Member State's share of this fund was calculated based on their milk production in the 2008/2009 milk quota...

Written Answers — Milk Quota: Milk Quota (6 Jul 2010)

Brendan Smith: The EU Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) provides a range of support measures that can be used to manage the dairy market, and these were modified in the CAP reforms of 1999 and 2003. In the Health Check negotiations in 2008 there was pressure to remove or weaken the support measures significantly. At that time I fought hard to keep the key market instruments in place and the importance of...

Written Answers — Farm Retirement Scheme: Farm Retirement Scheme (6 Jul 2010)

Brendan Smith: An amended application from the person named is currently being examined in my Department. The applicant will be informed of the outcome once this examination is complete.