The rate of pension payable under the 1994 early retirement scheme is the maximum provided for by the EU council regulation under which the scheme was introduced. The regulation does not provide for indexation of payments. My Department's proposals for the early retirement scheme that commenced on 27 November 2000, which forms part of the CAP rural development plan for the period 2000 to 2006, included provision for annual increases in pension over the period of the plan. The European Commission rejected this proposal and insisted that a fixed rate be set instead. My Department then proposed a rate that was the average of the scale initially proposed. This was acceptable to the Commission and is the rate provided for in the new scheme.
A number of changes to the scheme that did not require formal Commission approval have already been implemented. An independent evaluation of the schemes that form part of the rural development plan is currently under way as part of the mid-term review process and will be submitted to the European Commission in due course.