The person named lodged an application under the 1994 scheme of early retirement from farming with my Department on 10 December 1999. Following consideration, her application was rejected and she was informed of the reasons. My Department was not aware at that time that the person named had let her land for a nine month period in two of the years before her application, and this was not among the reasons for rejection of her application.
The person named subsequently sought to apply for the current early retirement 2000 scheme which was introduced in November 2000. It is a condition of the scheme that applicants must lease or transfer their land to eligible transferees after 1 January 2000 and have engaged in farming for the ten years prior to the date of the transfer or lease. Using a provision that forms part of the current scheme, she sought exemption from this condition on the grounds of ill health. That exemption was refused. My Department was already aware that she had transferred her land before January 2000, but the critical factor in my Department's view was the length of time she was out of farming. She had last farmed in 1996 and had then rented out her land. In view of the fact that she had not actively farmed since 1996, my Department concluded that it was at that point that she had ceased farming and transferred her holding. To grant an exemption from the rules in these circumstances would, in the considered opinion of my Department, have stretched the provisions of the scheme beyond reasonable limits.