Dan Neville (Limerick, Fine Gael)
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307. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the status of an application by a person (details supplied) in County Limerick under the beef data and genomics programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46447/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The person named applied for the 2015 Beef Data and Genomics Programme on 5 June 2015.

Under the Terms and Conditions of this Programme the reference animals are based on the number of eligible suckler cows that produced a calf in 2014. However, there is a provision whereby applicants may be allowed to use 2015 as the reference year in exceptional circumstances. On 28 August the person named applied to use 2015 as the reference year for the Programme as he was a new entrant to suckling. On 21 September 2015 my Department wrote to the person named requesting details of the number of cows expected to produce a calf in 2015. To date, no reply has been received. Meanwhile an official of my Department has contacted the person named and has explained the position. The person named has been informed that 2016 cannot be used as the reference year under the scheme.