Vol. 561 No. 4
239 Ms Enright asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the number of suspended early retirement scheme pensions he expects to be reinstated following the changes to the scheme announced on 12 February 2003; the criteria which will be used to decide on the reinstatement of such pensions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4655/03]
Following the announcement of the changes to the 1994 scheme of early retirement, my Department has identified about 130 cases where payment of pension may have been affected by the application of the rules on enlargement and farming as a main occupation after the first five years participation in the scheme had been completed.
The changes agreed by the European Commission mean that the obligations on the transferee – the person who took over the farm – to have enlargement land and to engage in farming as a main occupation are now confined to the first five years of participation in the scheme. Once the transferee has satisfied these conditions for five years, those conditions cease to apply though the transferee must continue to farm the pension lands, the lands transferred by the retiring farmer, for the full period of the pension.
My Department is currently contacting people who may benefit from the changes, with a view to establishing their eligibility for further payment of pension. Until these inquiries are complete it is not possible to confirm the number of pensions that are likely to be reinstated. In a number of cases, eligibility for further payment of the early retirement pension may be affected by whether the participant, or his or her spouse or partner in a joint management application, is receiving a national retirement pension. Under the governing EU regulation, the early retirement pension is payable only as a supplement to a national retirement pension.
