Vol. 469 No. 2
139 Mr. J. Walsh asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry if a person (details supplied) in County Cork who purchased land in 1996 with a cereal quota which had been transferred from a different plot under 1996 regulations will retain his quota entitlement for future years. [17110/96]
The current EU support system for producers of certain arable crops does not operate under a quota system. Arable aid payments may be applied for in respect of crops which are sown on eligible land, that is, land which was tilled for a crop (other than grass re-seeding) between 1 January 1987 and 31 December 1991. Under EU regulations eligibility for arable aid can be transferred temporarily from one field to another within a farmer's holding under certain conditions.
Since the regulation only permits transfer of eligibility within a holding, the eligibility transferred to the purchased land to which the Deputy refers reverted to the original donor plot at the time of the sale. In other words, because the land sold had not been ploughed between 1 January 1987 and 31 December 1991 it is not eligible land once sold.
