Vol. 518 No. 6
211 Mr. Hogan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development if he will initiate a review of an application for the farm retirement scheme for a person (details supplied) in County Kilkenny; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12568/00]
Under the terms and conditions of the scheme of early retirement from farming, a retiring farmer must release a minimum of five hectares of utilisable agricultural area, the title to which he/she must hold either in full ownership or by lease. The person named applied for a pension based on lands which were the subject of an application to the Land Registry under section 49 of the Land Act, 1965. However, she could not demonstrate legal title to the lands in question and so it was not possible for her to transfer or lease them to her transferee in a manner that would meet the requirements of the scheme. Accordingly, her application for a pension was rejected and a letter to this effect was issued to her from my Department on 10 November 1999.
212 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development when the new guidelines for the farm retirement scheme will be operational; whether EU approval has been granted; the stage of the negotiations; the number of people who have submitted applications for the scheme pending the introduction of the new guidelines; if he will outline the new guidelines in detail; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12569/00]
Proposals for a new scheme of early retirement from farming were submitted to the European Commission in December 1999 as part of my Department's draft rural development plan for the period 2000-06. My Department is in active discussion with the Commission on the plan. While it is my objective to have the new scheme in place at the earliest date, the Commission has six months to consider the plan from the date it was submitted and it is not possible at this stage to say when the process will be completed. Until the Commission approves them it is not possible to say categorically what the terms and conditions of the new scheme will be.
The existing scheme was closed to new applications on 31 December 1999. A considerable number of applications had been received at that date and these are being processed by my Department. As the new scheme is not yet in place there is no provision for people to apply to join it
