asked the Minister for Agriculture whether he is aware of the undue hardship that is being caused, mostly in the case of the smaller and less well-off producers, by the non-completion by this time of the year of inspections under the cattle and sheep headage grants scheme, inasmuch as these farmers are caught by traditional marketing forces and must dispose of their stock now, thus foregoing the second inspections and thereby losing these grants; whether he is further aware that this defeats the entire objective of this EEC-aided scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

I am aware that delays in inspections can cause hardship particularly for the smaller and less well-off producers and, for this reason, I have made arrangements that applicants under the disadvantaged areas cattle and EEC suckler cow schemes with four livestock units or less are not to be inspected this year. The 14,000 applicants who are affected are being asked to submit the cattle identity cards of their animals to the local office of the Department for noting. When the cards are returned, the applicants will be free to dispose of their cattle without fear of losing headage grants.

In regard to applicants with more than four livestock units, extra field staff have already been drawn from other areas of the Department to assist in the cattle inspections and to ensure that these will be completed in all counties before the end of November, about two weeks earlier than last year. Progress is encouraging with 30,000 inspections completed to date on the disadvantaged areas out of a total of 64,000 herds with more than four livestock units.

Sheep inspections in all counties are completed.

20.