Vol. 469 No. 2
138 Mr. Aylward asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry if he will reconsider an application by a person (details supplied) in County Kilkenny under the February 1995 10 and 22 month special beef premium scheme in view of the unfortunate circumstances of his case. [17096/96]
The problem to which the Deputy refers arose in 1995 when a large number of livestock farmers, whose holdings comprised permanent grassland only, did not submit an area aid application in spite of the fact that a pre-printed application form was issued to them by my Department. It appears that where farmers had no change in their holdings from 1994 to 1995, the purpose of the pre-printed form was misconstrued and the application form was seen as merely a statement that the Department already had details of the current status of farmers' holdings and that no reply from the farmers concerned was required.
To redress the problem, I succeeded in securing a once off concession from the European Commission whereby those farmers' 1994 area aid declarations could be accepted for 1995.
Unfortunately, the person to whom the Deputy refers did not have the same holding in 1995 as 1994 and, therefore, could not benefit from the concession.
