Mr. Wm. Rossasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many bee-keepers there are known to be in Northern Ireland; of these, how many are members of the Ulster Bee-keepers' Association; how many are known to be members of the Northern Bee-keepers' Association; how many are not members of, or affiliated to any of these bodies; what sums have been paid to any association of bee-keepers in Northern Ireland from United Kingdom or EEC sources in the last two years; for what purposes these sums were granted; under what conditions they were granted; and
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§ Mr. ConcannonI regret that as a result of the reorganisation in 1973 of the public bodies concerned, it is not possible to provide figures for debts owed in financial years up to March 1973 which could properly be compared with the figures for debts owed in later years. Details of debts owed at the end of each financial year from 1973–74 onwards are as follows:
of ways; voluntary agreement with the creditor bodies, court action and Enforcement of Judgment Office procedures, special budgeting schemes, and benefit allocation. I regret that it is impossible to quantify the sums collected in all these ways. The sums collected from benefit allocations were as follows:
if he is satisfied that all bee-keepers were given equal treatment in the disbursement of these sums.
§ Mr. Dunn,pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 11th July 1978], gave the following information:
Following the winding up of the Bee-Keepers Compensation Fund in 1971 the Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland no longer keeps a register of bee-keepers; however, it has been estimated that there are some 800 bee-keepers in Northern Ireland. The Ulster Bee-Keepers' Association claims a membership of 600; but no information is available on the size of the membership of 569W the Northern Ireland Bee-Keepers Association or on the number of bee-keepers who are not members of or affiliated to either of these bodies.
In the last two years the money received by the Ulster Bee-Keepers' Association has been £615 which was Northern Ireland's share of £36,670, allocated to the United Kingdom by the EEC for aid to bee-keepers.
A condition of this aid was that it would be distributed through representative associations of bee-keepers; the money could be spent on suitable schemes to improve the production and marketing of honey, or on teaching and training or it could be given direct to individual members. The Ulster Bee-Keepers' Association has undertaken to use the money for the benefit of Northern Ireland beekeepers in general and it was on this understanding that the money was paid in March of this year.