Vol. 571 No. 4
198 Mr. Wall asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the position regarding the appli cation by a person (details supplied) in County Carlow for the farm retirement scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21929/03]
The person named is the transferee for his mother, who joined the scheme of early retirement from farming in October 1999 under a joint management arrangement with her husband. Payment of the early retirement pension stopped in January 2003 because the amount of the old age pension payable to the participant's husband exceeded the early retirement pension. It is a requirement of the Council regulation governing the scheme that any national retirement pension to which a scheme participant and his or her spouse or partner in a joint management situation becomes entitled must be deducted from the early retirement pension.
