Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 29 June 2004
116 Mr. Naughten asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food , further to Parliamentary Question No. 198 of 6 April 2004, the further action he is taking to address this issue which has been raised regarding the impact which the mid-term review of Agenda 2000 will have on the rights of participants in the early retirement scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19374/04]
View answerThe position has already been set out in detail in my response to the Deputy in Question No. 198 of 6 April 2004.
The legal position laid down in the Council regulation is that all livestock premia and arable aid schemes are to be fully decoupled from production as and from 1 January 2005 and will be replaced by the new single payment scheme, to be introduced from 2005. The quota regime in respect of the livestock premia schemes will cease to be in existence from 31 December 2004. Consequently, quotas including individual suckler cow and ewe premium quotas will no longer exist for any farmer after that date and will not be required to ensure payment of the single payment scheme in the future.
Under 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 those years. 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 joined the early retirement scheme before the reference period and had leased out their holdings during the entire reference period will not have any entitlements established for them under the single payment scheme, as they were not farming in the specified reference period. The person who was leasing the land and was actively farming during the reference years will have entitlements established for him or her. 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.
However, family members who take over a holding, by transfer free of charge or by a lease of five or more years, 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 in the case of farmers who joined the early retirement scheme before the reference period and where a family member now wishes to take over the holding that was leased out to a third party during the reference years.
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, 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. To avail of this provision there must be a lease agreement in place in 2005, which includes a clause providing 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 during or after the reference period.
