The person named submitted a 2006 National Reserve application under Categories A and B. Category A catered for farmers who inherited land or received land free of charge or for a nominal sum from a farmer who had retired or died by 16th May 2005 and who had leased out his/her holding to a third party during the reference period 2000-2002. The person named is not eligible for an allocation as the leased land has not been received free of charge or for a nominal amount.
Category B catered for farmers who commenced farming after 31 December 2002 or who commenced farming in 2002 but who did not receive any direct payments in respect of that scheme year. In addition, the 2006 National Reserve had provisions for New Entrants who were farming leased/rented land provided they could demonstrate a genuine commitment to farming. In this context the applicant must have declared the leased/rented land on the 2004 Area Aid application and on both the 2005 and 2006 Single Payment applications. The person named was deemed not eligible under this category as he only commenced farming in 2006 and therefore had not been leasing the land for the three requisite years, i.e. 2004, 2005 and 2006.
A letter outlining my Department's decision has issued to the person named and if he is dissatisfied, he now has the opportunity to appeal the decision to the Independent Appeals Committee setting out the facts and contentions on which he relies in support of his appeal. An appeals application is available from any of my Department's offices or on the Department's website at
www.agriculture.gov.ie.