Tom Fleming (Kerry South, Independent)
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311. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his plans to review all levies charged to farmers at meat factories, given the additional €105 billion spending anticipated, owing to better than expected tax receipts, as farmers cannot continue to carry these excessive deductions, which come to €10 on a finished beef animal; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36241/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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A number of EU and national regulations provide for charging of fees to operators of food businesses including meat plants and farmers. Details of such fees are set out below.

Regulation (EC) 882 of 2004, relating to official controls performed to ensure the verification of compliance with feed and food law, animal health and animal welfare rules, provides for the recovery of the cost of meat inspection services at approved meat premises. The fees paid are mainly unit fees for animals slaughtered, ranging from €5 for cattle to €0.01 for small poultry. It is important to note that these are the minimum amounts chargeable under the Regulation; and that they are not levies on farmers, but rather fees required by EU law to be recovered from meat plants. The amount recovered in 2014 in respect of these fees was €14.5m.

The An Bord Bia Act, 1994, provides for payment to Bord Bia of a levy per head on slaughtered or exported livestock. The current levy rate is €1.90 per head for cattle. There are no plans at this point to review the rate of the levy, which funds market research, intelligence and promotion activities and enables the beef sector to draw down co-funding from within the Bord Bia budget. Income from the cattle levy (including live exports) in 2014 amounted to €5.7m.

Bovine disease levies are collected under the Bovine Disease Levies Acts 1979 and 1996 and are used as the industry contribution to compensation payable under disease eradication programmes. The current rates are €0.0006 per litre of milk processed and €1.27 for each animal slaughtered or exported. There are no plans at this point to review the rate of the levy. The total collected in 2014 was €6.6m, including €3.1m at meat plants/abattoirs and for live exports.