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The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Simon Coveney TD, today announced the re-opening of the Poultry Welfare Scheme for new applications with effect from Tuesday, 26 July 2011. The Minister stated that the revised closing date for receipt of applications under the Scheme will now be Friday, 12 August 2011. The application forms in use for the Scheme, prior to its suspension on 8 June 2011, can be used by applicants for this purpose and the standard terms and conditions will continue to apply in relation to any new applications received.

The Minister indicated that applications totalling approx. €11.2 million had already been received from farmers under the Scheme prior to 8 June 2011. As a sum of €16 million had been provided for the Scheme in Ireland’s Rural Development Programme, a sum of €4.8 million would therefore be available for the final tranche of applications which closes on Friday, 12 August 2011. In the event that the applications received exceed this amount, the selection criteria set out in the Scheme will be used in order to determine those applications which will proceed to the approval process.