Dara Murphy (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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242. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason a person (details supplied) in County Cork was unable to purchase milk quota in 2011 when they were under 35 years of age; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23576/13]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The named person was one of more than 200 farmers who applied under the Category of ‘brand new applicants’ to this Department’s 2011 New Entrants to Dairying Scheme. Each year’s Scheme involves, within this Category, the allocation of 10 million litres of milk quota to 50 applicants who previously were not involved in milk production or did not hold a milk quota and whose application and business plan, in the opinion of an independent assessment panel, best demonstrated evidence of a viable and sustainable enterprise going forward.

The assessment panel, having completed its examination of the 2011 applications, was of the view that the named person’s application and business plan, when compared with other applications received in the same Category, did not achieve a sufficiently high standard for inclusion in the list submitted for approval.