Vol. 520 No. 4
76 Mr. Wall asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development when he will re-introduce the farm retirement scheme, REPs and the farm waste management scheme as the loss of these schemes is causing major problems financially for the farming community; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16055/00]
The Rural Development Plan 2000-2006, which contains proposals for a new rural environmental protection scheme and a new scheme of early retirement from farming along with other measures, was submitted to the European Commission in December last and the Commission have 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 the measures including the new REPS and early retirement schemes.
Under the National Development Plan 2000-2006, a provision of £167 million has been made for a scheme of farm waste management. This measure is a component of the new regional operational programmes for the Border, Midland and Western Region and Southern and Eastern Region. The programmes have been submitted to the European Commission for approval. These measures cannot be introduced until formal Commission approval is forthcoming. I should add that there has been a very significant uptake of the existing measures under the categories referred to by the Deputy.
