Vol. 519 No. 5
136 Mr. U. Burke asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development when he will reintroduce the farm retirement scheme; if there are any major changes in the scheme; if he will provide additional resources and personnel to speed up the processing of the many applications that have been held up during the suspension of the scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14345/00]
The rural development plan 2000-2006, which contains proposals for a new scheme of early retirement from farm ing along with other measures, was submitted to the European Commission in December last and the Commission has six months from then to consider it. Formal negotiations on the plan with the Commission are now well under way, though it is not possible to indicate at this stage when the Commission will be in a position to approve it. When the plan is approved, my objective is to secure the earliest implementation of each measure including the new scheme of early retirement.
The main changes in the proposed new scheme are that it does not include an obligation on the retiring farmer to have been engaged in farming as a main occupation, or on the transferee to farm as a main occupation, and that it does not require the transferee to enlarge the holding – there will be a viability requirement instead.
A very large number of applications for the existing scheme were received at the end of last year because the closing date for entry to the scheme was 31 December. The backlog of applications is being dealt with by local office staff in conjunction with other priority work and my Department is making every effort to expedite the processing of these applications. The issue of resources is being kept under review.
However, when the processing of an application is delayed in this way there is no financial loss to the retiring farmer. The operational procedures for the scheme specifically ensure that the date of receipt in the Department of a valid application determines the date from which payment is made.
