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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 23 Mar 1999

Vol. 502 No. 3

Written Answers. - Farm Retirement Scheme.

Ivan Yates

Ceist:

260 Mr. Yates asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if persons (details supplied) in County Wexford will have ERS payments backdated to the date of their application with his Department or to the date on which they originally signed the transfer of the land; and if this case will be reconsidered. [8502/99]

Under the terms and conditions of the scheme of early retirement from farming, payment of a pension can only be authorised from the date of receipt of a valid application. The date of receipt of a valid application is the date on which all the core documentation is lodged with the local FDS office. In this case, the application for the person named was lodged in the local FDS office on 11 May 1998. Due to the volume of work in the office, the file was not examined until 22 June 1998. On the examination of the file a number of queries arose.

The officer examining the file wrote to the applicants solicitors requesting further details in relation to these queries on 22 June 1998. A reply was received on 4 September 1998. The date of valid application has now been revised to 24 July 1998 to take account of the full period of the delay in processing the application in the local office. In the circumstances, there are no grounds for backdating the payment of the pension to the original date of application.

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