I propose to take Questions Nos. 43 and 46 together. EU legislation provides the option for member states to change from a system of Regional (or National) Base Area to an Individual Base Area system. Under the latter system IBAs would be allocated to farmers who produced eligible arable crops or who had land in set-aside during the base years 1989, 1990 and 1991.
The introduction of an IBA system could not be undertaken without suitable amendments to the rules in particular to cater for those who were out of production in the base years or who commenced production in the meantime. These matters have already been brought to the attention of the EU Commission and my Department will shortly be discussing with them possible changes in the EU regulations.