Vol. 520 No. 5
106 Mr. McGrath asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development if he will expedite an application from a person (details supplied) in County Westmeath, received by his Department a number of months ago with regard to the farm retirement scheme. [16260/00]
The person named applied for an early retirement pension on 23 December 1999. A very large number of applications was received at that time because the closing date for entry to the then existing scheme was 31 December. The backlog in applications is now being given priority by local office staff and my Department is making every effort to expedite the processing of outstanding applications.
In no case does the processing time result in a financial loss to a 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.
