44 Mr. Timmins asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry if officials in his Department will enter discussions with officials in the EU to enable a harvesting machinery grant to be paid to a person (details supplied) in County Waterford in view of the extreme circumstances involving payment of outstanding tax. [23081/96]

A condition of the harvesting machinery grant scheme under the Operational Programme for Agriculture, Rural Development and Forestry (1994-1999) is that the applicant must receive prior approval from the Department before proceeding with the investment. In this case the machinery had been purchased a number of weeks before the applicant sought grant assistance from my Department. I, therefore, regret that a grant cannot be considered, nor would it be appropriate for officials of my Department to enter into discussions with EU officials on this matter.