Vol. 552 No. 1
201 Mr. Aylward asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development if he will consider relaxing the regulations governing the EU early retirement scheme, particularly in relation to the income from farming; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11734/02]
The EU Council regulation under which the early retirement scheme was introduced requires an applicant to have practised farming for the ten years before he or she transfers the holding. To meet this requirement, the scheme requires that at the time of transfer an applicant must derive not less than 25% of his or her total income from farming.
This requirement is much less stringent than the rule under the previous scheme that an applicant had to have farmed as a main occupation. It is an acknowledgement of the fact that many farmers need to supplement their income from sources outside of farming. The threshold of 25% used to determine eligibility is not considered unreasonable and there are no plans to change it.
