asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the reason farmers with bovine TB and brucellosis reactors have to endure such undue delays for payment from his Department.

The delays which are occurring in the payment of reactor grants are being caused by the temporary dislocation of work involved in preparing for the decentralisation of certain sections of my Department to Cavan. Additional staff for the relevant payment duties are now being trained and it is expected that the period required for processing payments will be substantially reduced in the near future.

I welcome the Minister's reply. It is interesting to have the matter clarified here today because many farmers have been frustrated by the lengthy delays and I am sure every Deputy finds contacting the Department at present a frustrating experience when told that all that is available is one senior accounts person and two trainees who administer an accounts function for the entire country. If extra staffing is required that is a priority because farmers who suffer the emotional trauma of their stock having bovine TB with the consequent financial loss have enough on their plate without waiting an excessive time. The Minister will have to reduce that time and I think he is taking the measures to do so. Is it true that no money is available at present for FDS? If that is the case, is any funding available at present to pay these TB grants?

Money is available for these TB grants. The Deputy might not be aware of that because he has not been here previously and I do not say that in any sense of comment that he would not have full knowledge. We have increased the rate of Government and taxpayers support for ERAD to an unprecedented level. It is the only area of Government service where there has been a guaranteed payment over four years. It is a matter for ERAD as to the level of compensation grants they pay. Last year they increased the level of grants — they recommended to me that that be done and I did it.

I appreciate there is a delay and accept that that is a hardship, but we have now installed a fully computerised programme that will be available to deal with these things quickly. A feature of the ERAD programme has been that last year and this year we have the most comprehensive round of testing ever undertaken. One of the natural consequences of that is that you will turn up more reactors than you would if you did not have a comprehensive round of testing. We are dealing with it expeditiously and the computerisation programme will be a great help in this.