Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 18 Oct 2001

Vol. 542 No. 4

Written Answers. - Farm Retirement Scheme.

Tom Enright

Question:

121 Mr. Enright asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development the total number of applications received by his Department under the farm retirement scheme; under the old scheme; under the new scheme introduced on 27 November 2000; the number of cases on which queries were raised by his Department under each of the schemes; the number of cases approved by his Department under both schemes; the number of refusals for payment under the scheme; the reason for these refusals; the number of cases in each instance which were the subject of an appeal in his Department; the number of applications for payments which have been referred to the Ombudsman for a decision; the number of cases on which the Ombudsman reversed the original decision of the Department; the average length of time it takes from lodging the application to the applicant receiving the pension; the number of pensions which are suspended; the reasons therefor; the waiting time in having extensions of leases approved; the number of suspensions of such pensions while waiting approval; if he will furnish replies to these questions on a county by county basis; if he plans to make applications for the farm retirement scheme more user friendly; and if he will endeavour to simplify the scheme. [24797/01]

Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development (Mr. Walsh):

The number of applications that my Department has received under the two early retirement schemes is set out in the first table below. That table also shows the numbers approved and the numbers refused.

The most common reasons for refusing applications are as follows:

(i) the retiring farmer did not qualify under the age criteria;

(ii) the transferee did not qualify under the age criteria;

(iii) title to the pension lands, or, in the previous scheme, to the enlargement lands, was not established;

(iv) incomplete or invalid documentation was submitted.

The second table below contains information on the number of cases which were appealed to my Department and also those which were appealed to the Ombudsman, together with the number in which the Ombudsman recommended that my Department change its decisions.

The third table shows the number of cases in each scheme in which queries were raised, and the number in which pensions have been suspended. It is not possible to quantify the number of queries raised under the old scheme, but the majority of applications involved a significant amount of interaction between the Department and the applicant or their agent. It was for this reason that the onus in the new scheme is on both the applicant and their agent to ensure that the application is in order before submitting it to the Department for decision.

Payment of a pension is suspended when a participant is found to be non-compliant with the terms and conditions of the scheme – for example if a retired farmer is found to be still farming, or a transferee is not farming the enlarged holding. In other cases as listed below participants are requested to submit evidence within a given time period to my Department to prove that they are compliant with the scheme rules. Failure to submit such evidence within the specified period results in suspension of the pension.

(i) The regulation under which the scheme was introduced requires that the pension payable under the scheme must be reduced by the amount of any national retirement pension which becomes payable. While the onus is on participants in the scheme to notify my Department if they or their partners in joint management are awarded an old age pension, participants are now advised three months in advance of their 66th birthday that they must apply to the Department of Social Community and Family Affairs for both the contributory and non-contributory old age pension and notify my Department of that Department's decision. If no response is received from applicants before their 66th birthday, payment of the early retirement pension is suspended pending confirmation of their entitlement to the old age pension.

(ii) Pension declaration forms are issued to every participant in the scheme each year. Participants must sign this form and have their signature witnessed. In signing the form the participant is declaring "that I am entitled to receive payment of a pension under the above-mentioned scheme and that since I was granted the pension under the scheme I have not engaged in commercial farming activities and that all the conditions of the scheme continue to be met." Payment of pension is suspended if the signed declaration is not returned within 28 days.

(iii) Legal documentation in respect of lands leased, purchased, transferred or sold or a replacement transferee must be submitted to my Department as evidence of compliance. Payment of the pension is suspended if relevant documentation has not been received within four months of the initial request. The pension remains suspended until the required documentation is submitted and approved by the inspectorate.

As regards the extension of leases, there are currently five pensions suspended, one each in Cavan, Cork, Louth and two in Meath, that are awaiting approval on extension of leases. My Department endeavours to process the renewal of leases as quickly as possible.

A number of initiatives have been implemented to simplify the application process. Revised procedures have been introduced which allows for the suspension of the processing of an application if there are minor errors or omissions that can be corrected. Applicants are given up to ten days to rectify the errors, while their date of application is unaffected. This new procedure should overcome many of the early problems with the scheme. The scheme is currently being reviewed to see if it can be clarified further, though my Department must always have regard to its responsibilities as a payment agency responsible for the correct administration of EU-funded measures.

In relation to the average length of time between application and payment, the Protocol on Direct Payments to Farmers lays down the timescale within which valid applications for the early retirement pension must be brought to scheduling for payment stage. For valid applications, i.e. those that meet the eligibility requirements, a period of ten weeks is allowed where there is no pre-payment check to be completed and twelve weeks in cases selected for pre-payment inspection. A further six weeks is allowed for payment of pension following approval. The Department has met its commitments under the protocol in relation to all applications received to date. The average time taken to process an application is 62 days, well within the protocol timescale.

Table 1: Applications received, approved and refused under the 1994 and 2000 Schemes

County	ERS 1994	Total Number of Applications	Number of Approved cases	Number of Refusals for payment	ERS 2000	Total Number of Applications	Number of Approved cases	Number of Refusals for payment
Carlow	159	159	1	14	9	0
Cavan	330	321	10	28	10	8
Clare	448	436	12	21	12	4
Cork	1,978	1,972	7	92	69	7
Donegal	143	143	0	3	0	1
Dublin	87	81	6	1	0	0
Galway	470	459	11	27	12	6
Kerry	780	772	10	46	28	10
Kildare	176	169	8	3	1	1
Kilkenny	445	435	18	27	18	1
Laois	304	293	13	11	8	1
Leitrim	75	69	6	9	3	1
Limerick	752	748	7	47	36	4
Longford	142	131	12	10	4	2
Louth	120	117	4	4	2	2
Mayo	217	215	2	15	8	2
Meath	334	326	11	13	7	0
County	ERS 1994	Total Number of Applications	Number of Approved cases	Number of Refusals for payment	ERS 2000	Total Number of Applications	Number of Approved cases	Number of Refusals for payment
Monaghan	187	179	12	10	6	0
Offaly	275	268	12	15	10	1
Roscommon	266	257	10	16	10	1
Sligo	158	151	8	8	4	0
Tipperary	1,109	1,093	25	66	45	6
Waterford	284	282	2	18	13	1
Westmeath	250	245	5	13	6	3
Wexford	785	760	36	42	33	1
Wicklow	176	168	8	12	8	1
Total	10,450	10,249	25,611	57,122	362	64
			Appeals on 55 refusals were upheld	145 cases awaiting decision

Table 2: Appeals and cases referred to the Ombudsman

County	ERS 1994	Number of Appeals.Includes appeals on refusals, amount of pension payment, duration of pension, type of application, penalties, over payments	Number of complaints received from the Office of the Ombudsman	Number of decisions reversed by the Ombudsman	ERS 2000	Number of Appeals.Includes appeals on refusals, amount of pension payment, duration of pension, type of application	Number of complaints received from the Office of the Ombudsman	Number of decisions reversed by the Ombudsman
Carlow	1	3	1	0	0	0
Cavan	6	2	0	2	1	0
Clare	3	6	2	0	0	0
Cork	3	6	1	1	0	0
Donegal	0	0	0	1	0	0
Dublin	3	3	1	0	0	6
Galway	5	6	1	1	0	0
Kerry	5	11	1	5	2	0
Kildare	3	6	1	0	0	0
Kilkenny	12	5	0	1	0	0
Laois	6	1	0	1	0	0
Leitrim	3	0	0	1	0	0
Limerick	7	5	0	2	0	0
Longford	5	5	2	1	0	0
Louth	4	4	1	0	0	0
Mayo	2	10	0	1	0	0
Meath	5	4	0	0	0	0
Monaghan	6	0	0	1	1	0
Offaly	9	2	1	3	0	0
Roscommon	2	2	0	4	1	0
Sligo	2	2	0	1	0	0
Tipperary	15	6	1	3	0	0
Waterford	0	1	0	0	0	0
Westmeath	4	4	1	2	1	0
Wexford	16	5	2	2	0	0
Wicklow	5	1	0	0	0	0
Total	132	100	16	33	6	0

Table 3: Cases in which queries were raised and pensions are currently suspended

County	ERS 2000	ERS 1994	ERS 2000
	Number of cases on which queries were raised	Number of pensions currently suspended	Number of pensions currently suspended
Carlow	7	7	0
Cavan	11	10	0
Clare	6	9	0
Cork	30	42	2
			Non-return of Social Welfare details
Donegal	0	3	0
Dublin	1	1	0
Galway	13	11	0
Kerry	18	26	0
Kildare	1	2	0
Kilkenny	6	12	0
Laois	5	10	0
Leitrim	2	2	0
Limerick	16	16	0
Longford	7	8	0
Louth	1	2	0
Mayo	6	2	0
Meath	3	16	0
Monaghan	6	6	0
Offaly	5	6	0
Roscommon	2	3	0
Sligo	2	4	0
Tipperary	23	29	0
Waterford	1	9	0
Westmeath	4	8	0
Wexford	12	27	0
Wicklow	4	11	0
Total	192	282	2

Tom Enright

Question:

122 Mr. Enright asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development when a pension under the scheme of early retirement from farming will be restored to a person (details supplied) in County Offaly. [24798/01]

Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development (Mr. Walsh):

It was necessary to suspend payment of the early retirement pension to the person named from July 2001 because legal documentation relating to the renewal of a lease had not been received. The required documentation has now been received and monthly payments will resume at the end of November, with arrears payable from 1 July 2001.