Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 7 May 2014
175. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his views on correspondence (details supplied) regarding entitlements under the national reserve; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20583/14]
View answerA National Reserve operated under the current Single Payment Scheme since 2005. However, since the National Reserve is funded solely from the reversion of unused entitlements, and as the number of unused entitlements has been decreasing in recent years, it was not possible to operate a National Reserve for the 2013 and 2014 scheme years. The person named will not receive an allocation of entitlements under the 2014 scheme year but may be eligible under the new Direct Payment Scheme that will take effect in 2015.
There are significant advantages for persons who meet the definition of ‘young farmer’ under the new Direct Payment Regulation as they will be eligible both to apply to the National Reserve for an allocation of new entitlements or a top-up on the value of existing entitlements and also to participate in the Young Farmers Scheme. The definition includes the criteria that such persons are aged 40 or less in their first year of application and that they have established their holding within five years of their first application under the Basic Payment Scheme. The essential purpose of the ‘young farmer’ category is to assist young farmers in the initial stages of establishing a farming enterprise in their own name and to encourage generational renewal. It is for this reason that the payment is restricted to those who are establishing or have established such a holding in the previous five years.
However if the person named is not eligible to be considered as a ‘young farmer’, she may be eligible for an allocation of entitlements if she never held entitlements under the current Single Payment Scheme, either owned or leased, but was actively farming in 2013. In this context ‘actively farming’ is defined as producing an agricultural product and such persons will be required to submit verifiable evidence of such production. The person concerned may wish to contact the 2015 Direct Payments Information Centre at 0761 064438 or CAPdirectpayments@agriculture.gov.ie to discuss her circumstances in more detail.
