asked the Minister for Energy if it is his intention to withdraw the off-farm income clause applicable to farmers in the disadvantaged areas who apply for grant aid under the western package electrification scheme, thereby bringing his Department in line with the policy adopted by the Minister for Agriculture and Food in abolishing off-farm income clauses from 1 January 1990.
Written Answers. - Off-Farm Income Clause.
21.
The western package electrification scheme operates within the context of a programme approved by the EC Commission in 1981 and which was revised in 1988. The programme stipulates, at Commission insistence, that agriculture must be the principal economic activity of the beneficiaries under the scheme.
There are no indications that the European Commission will propose any fundamental relaxation of the basic income eligibility criteria. As a result of the revision last year, however, applicants in receipt of certain social welfare benefits exceeding their actual farm income are now eligible for assistance.
The announcement last June by the Minister for Agriculture and Food referred to the system of headage payments operated by his Department and not to the western package.