Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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Question 393: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will follow his counterpart in Northern Ireland and extend the farm waste management scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44876/08]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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The deadline of 31 December 2008 for completion of work by farmers under the revised Farm Waste Management Scheme introduced by my Department in March 2006 is a condition of the EU state aid approval for the Scheme. The European Commission has since reaffirmed that it expects Ireland to respect this deadline strictly. I have no plans to approach the European Commission for approval to extend the deadline.