Vol. 528 No. 2
122 Mr. Aylward asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development if he will examine a situation (details supplied) and if an application under the new farm early retirement scheme would be accepted by his Department under the force majeure clause. [29947/00]
On the basis of the information supplied, the person named would appear to be ineligible for the early retirement scheme. An applicant is required to have practised farming in the ten years prior to retirement and must have derived a minimum of 25% of his/her income from farming in the year the transfer/lease documents are signed. The person named had let her land on short-term lease, which is not categorised as farming activity for the purposes of the scheme, and income derived from such short-term lettings is treated as off-farm income.
Whether the issue of force majeure could form a basis for this condition to be waived in the case of the person named is a matter that could be considered only when the full facts of the case were known and an application was received in my Department.
