Vol. 549 No. 3
149 Mr. Neville asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development if, further to Parliamentary Question No. 136 of 19 February 2002, he will outline the number of people who will benefit under the new arrangement for widows or widowers under the age of 66; and the number of people who are receiving pension under the retirement scheme for farmers. [6654/02]
There are currently 42 participants in the 2000 early retirement scheme who are receiving a widow's or widower's pension and are aged less than 66 years. Of these, 37 have a contributory pension and the other five have a non-contributory pension. The change in the classification of the widow's and widower's pensions for those under 66 years of age will also benefit future applicants. There were 10,513 participants in the 1994 scheme of early retirement, and of these there are 7,856 still receiving pension. There have been 964 applicants to date for the new scheme, and 625 of these are either already in payment or are about to go into payment.
