Vol. 548 No. 4
10 Mr. McGinley asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development if he will have the conditions of access to the scheme of installation aid for young farmers altered in order to remove the requirement for applications to be made within four months of the date of transfer of lands to the applicant; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4908/02]
In order to qualify for aid under the installation aid scheme, IAS, the initial application must include confirmation that the associated setting up costs, for example, stamp duty, legal and accountancy fees etc., remain to be discharged by the young farmer at the time of application. This was a specific requirement of the EU Commission when it approved the scheme.
Applicants are therefore obliged to make their initial application within four months of taking over the farm to ensure that the Department has been notified of their intention to seek installation aid before the related set up costs have been discharged.
