Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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182. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if a person (details supplied) in County Kerry will be granted force majeure for being over quota; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16564/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The named person was an applicant under my Department’s recent Animal Disease Scheme which had a closing date of 5 December 2014, except in cases where herds became restricted after that date. In such instances the relevant farmers were required to submit their application within one month of the date of restriction.

The named person’s herd was restricted on 27 February 2015, however his application was not received in my Department until 17 April 2015, almost 2 months after the restriction was placed. Consequently his application was not presented to the Tribunal for assessment and the named person was informed accordingly.

Regulations, agreed at EU level, stipulate that in the event milk supplied by a milk producer exceeds their available milk quota, a producer is liable to pay a super levy fine on their excess production. Unfortunately, due to the country finishing an estimated 4.34% over quota and with the pressure that this in turn places on the National Reserve, it is not possible to make any exceptions on the grounds of force majeure for producers who exceeded their quota.