Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 27 April 2004
216 Mr. N. O’Keeffe asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the entitlements farmers who have leased their entire holding have under the single farm payments scheme in view of the statement in a newspaper (details supplied). [11164/04]
View answerUnder the European Council regulation introducing the single payment scheme, a farmer may have access to the scheme if he was an active farmer during the reference years 2000, 2001 and 2002 and received payments under the livestock premia and-or arable aid schemes. In addition, farmers for whom entitlements will be established must activate those entitlements in 2005 by continuing to farm and submitting an area aid declaration in that year. In general, farmers must also have an eligible hectare of land for each payment entitlement.
Farmers who had leased their holdings during the entire reference period and were not farming will not have any entitlements established for them under the single payment scheme. The person who was leasing the land and was actively farming during the reference years will have the entitlements established. It should be noted that entitlements are attached to the farmer who was actively farming during the reference period and are not attached to the land. I should point out, however, that during the Council negotiations last year I secured agreement that farmers who take over the holding that was leased out to a third party during the reference period, will be able to apply to the National Reserve for payment entitlements under the single payment scheme. This will be of particular benefit to the offspring of farmers who joined the early retirement scheme before the reference period and leased out the farm to a third party.
Farmers who leased out their holding during or after the reference period, will, because they were active farmers in one or more of the reference years, have entitlements established for them. However, they will need to commence farming again in 2005 and continue to farm in order to activate their entitlements and draw down the single payment for themselves. If they do not return to farming and activate their entitlements the entitlements in question will revert to the National Reserve.
During the course of negotiations on the detailed rules regulation, Ireland secured agreement that a farmer who was farming during one of more of the reference years and who has since leased out his holding to another farmer can apply in 2005 to establish his entitlements and then lease those entitlements out to the farmer who has leased the land. In order to avail of this provision there must be a lease agreement in place in 2005 which provides that the entitlements are to be leased out to the person who is leasing the land. This provision will also be of particular benefit to farmers who joined the early retirement scheme either during or after the reference period. Such farmers are precluded from taking up farming again in their own right but they will be allowed to request to have their entitlements established whereupon they can then lease out the entitlements to the farmer who is leasing the land provided that the lease agreement in place in 2005 provides for this type of arrangement.
