asked the Minister for Agriculture the finance made available to his Department to grant aid agriculture in 1980 and 1981; the cost of administering these schemes; and the finance received by the applicants.

The moneys made available to my Department from the EEC and the national Exchequer to provide direct grant aids to farmers amounted to approximately £105 million in 1980 and £126 million in 1981. All of this money went to the farmers and the apportioned administrative costs for servicing these grant-aided schemes are estimated at £6 million in 1980 and £9 million in 1981. Only schemes which involved grant payments from my Department direct to farmers are covered by the foregoing figures and payments to exporters and processors which support farmers' prices are not included.

Why has the cost of administration increased by 50 per cent from 1980 to 1981? The increase in grant aid was small and we should be given an explanation for the increase in the cost of administration.

Departmental administrative costs amounted to £46.1 million in 1981 and £38 million in 1980. The administrative cost for servicing grant-aided schemes on a proportionate basis worked out at £9.4 million in 1981 and £5.88 million in 1980. The increase may be due to the large number of additional schemes dealt with by the Department.

Did I understand the Minister to say that the cost of administration was £46 million?

It amounted to £46.1 million in 1981 and £38 million in 1980.