Denis Naughten (Longford-Roscommon, Fine Gael)
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Question 470: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food when she intends to introduce the new farm waste management grants; if the building specifications will differ from the previous scheme; the rates of payment of the new grant; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5085/06]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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The revised farm waste management scheme will be introduced as soon as the required EU state aid approval is received from the EU Commission. The matter was one of the subjects I discussed last week with Commissioner Fischer Boel during my meeting with her in Brussels. Subject to receipt of this approval, the scheme will: provide for an increase in the current standard grant rate from 40% to 60%, with 70% being available in the four Zone C counties; be extended to include horses, deer, goats, pigs and poultry, and mushroom compost; permit all small farmers to participate in the scheme by the removal of any minimum income requirements from farming from the scheme; and provide for an increase in the maximum eligible investment ceiling from €75,000 to €120,000.

My Department's technical specifications are being amended to take account of the extension of the scheme to sectors such as pigs and poultry, which have not previously been eligible for grant aid under the scheme.