Vol. 481 No. 4
94 Mr. Naughten asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the provisions, if any, which are being put in place to ease the hardship of the drop in income experienced by retired farmers following completion of the farm retirement scheme. [16085/97]
The early retirement scheme is a structural scheme which provides an incentive for farmers between the ages of 55 and 66 to retire from farming and pass their holdings to younger farmers. It commenced in 1994 and is paid for a maximum of ten years or until the applicant reaches 70 years of age. The incentive is in the form of an annual sum of up to £10,000 payable before the farmer reaches the normal retirement age of 66. At that age the pension is reduced by the amount of any state pension payable. There is no provision in the scheme for further payments to supplement any national pension after participation has ceased.
