Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 261: To ask the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs if a person (details supplied) in County Mayo will be approved for a Gaeltacht house grant in view of the fact that they are a fluent Irish speaker. [30255/07]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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It is a statutory condition under the Housing (Gaeltacht) Acts that grants may not be made except to occupiers of dwelling houses in which the Irish language is habitually used as the normal language of that household.

My Department is not satisfied that this statutory condition is fulfilled in the case referred to by the Deputy and accordingly a grant cannot be sanctioned under the Acts at this time.

However, the applicant in question, on the advice of my Department, has applied for a grant under Scéim Labhairt na Gaeilge and if that is successful the housing grant application will be re-examined.

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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Under the Farm Improvement Scheme, grant-aid was available at a standard grant-rate of 40% up to a maximum eligible investment ceiling of €120,000 for sheep housing, sheep dipping tanks, specialized sheep spraying equipment, fencing, sheep handling units and related facilities.

12,675 grant applications were received from farmers under the Scheme prior to its suspension on 31 October 2007. These applications are currently being processed within my Department and it is not possible at this stage to provide a final figure as to the financial commitment, in terms of grant-aid, represented by the sheep sector in these applications.