The Single Payment Scheme in Ireland is based on the "Historical Model". This means that the Payment Scheme is applicable to farmers who actively farmed during the reference years 2000, 2001 and 2002, who were paid Livestock Premia and/or Arable Aid in one or more of those years and who continued to farm in 2005 (the first year of the Single Payment Scheme). The gross Single Payment is based on the average number of animals and/or the average number of hectares (in the case of Arable Aid) on which payments were made in the three reference years. As the person named did not farm during the reference period no Single Payment was established for him.
New entrants to farming are catered for under the Single Payment Scheme National Reserve. A New Entrant is defined as a farmer who did not pursue any agricultural activity in his/her own name or at his/her own risk in the five years immediately preceding the commencement of the new agricultural activity.
The 2008 National Reserve caters for New Entrants to farming who commenced farming after 31 December 2005 (Category B on the application form.). Applicants under this category are also required to meet other criteria including farming qualifications and on and off-farm income limits.
In addition applicants must also submit a 2008 Single Payment application form detailing all of the land that they are farming. The number of entitlements to be allocated to successful applicants under Category B may not exceed the number of eligible hectares declared on the 2008 Single Payment application for which the applicant does not already hold single payment entitlements. EU Regulations provide that the value of entitlements allocated under this category may not exceed the regional average value of entitlements. The regional average will be the average value determined at the District Electoral Division (DED) associated with the applicant's herd number. The overall value of entitlements allocated shall not exceed €10,000.
Farmers who receive new entitlements from the National Reserve must use those entitlements every year for five years from the year of allocation, otherwise the unused entitlements will be returned to the National Reserve.
Application forms for the 2008 National Reserve are now available on the Department's website, http://www.agriculture.gov.ie, from Department offices and from Teagasc offices. If the person named feels he may qualify for an allocation of entitlements from the National Reserve he may submit a National Reserve application together with the required documentation as outlined on the application form to my Department's Offices in Portlaoise no later than 15 May 2008. This is also the closing date for submission of the 2008 Single Payment application form.
Finally, new entrants to farming may acquire Single Payment entitlements by way of transfer by purchase, or lease from another farmer. The closing date for the transfer of entitlements from one farmer to another is also 15 May 2008.