Agriculture Supports

Wednesday, 17 January 2024

Questions (1228)

Claire Kerrane

Question:

1228. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine further to Parliamentary Question No. 447 of 5 December 2023, with regard to the eligibility timeframe for the proposed solution for the group known as 'Forgotten Farmers', if farmers who were under the age of 40 years in 2015 and who established their holdings between 2008 and 2010 will be considered as eligible for the scheme, given there are a cohort of farmers who were unable to receive installation aid or the young farmer top-up between Budget 2008 and January 2010; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [57112/23]

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Written answers

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Since the time my Department was first approached with regard to the group commonly referred to as forgotten farmers, the group was defined as young farmers who were under the age of 40 in 2015, had established their holdings prior to 2008 and held no or low value payment entitlements.

In recognition of the withdrawal of the Installation Aid Scheme in October 2008, and following my Department’s consultation with the EU Commission, the then Minister announced in March 2015 that the group commonly known as ‘Old Young Farmers’, who established their holding between 1 January 2008 and 31 December 2009, and who, due to the timeframe of setting up their holding did not benefit from either Installation Aid or the Young Farmer category of the National Reserve, could be considered as a ‘group suffering from specific disadvantage’.

The result was that this group was eligible to apply for support under the National Reserve measure of the 2015 Basic Payment Scheme. Successful applicants under this category received an allocation of payment entitlements on land on which they held no entitlements, and a top-up to the national average value on existing entitlements that were below the national average.