Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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509. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will clarify whether the BVD compensation scheme will be made available to both suckler and dairy farmers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30275/13]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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My Department introduced a compensation scheme for herdowners, who have 2 or more eligible beef breed calves, in suckler herds born on or after 1 January 2013. To qualify, the herdowner must comply with the conditions of the BVD Eradication Programme, the statutory basis for which is set out in S.I. 532 of 2012. In particular, the calves must have had an initial positive or inconclusive test for the Bovine Viral Diarrhoea Virus (BVD), and be removed from the herd, with a date of death notified to the Animal Identification Movement System (AIM). Payment will be made at a rate of €100 in respect of the second and subsequent P.I. calves in suckler herds.

I have decided to confine the scheme to calves from suckler herds because the “payback period” in suckler herds is more than twice that of dairy herds.