Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 9 June 2015
485. Deputy Joe Carey asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine notwithstanding a general election between now and early 2016, his plans for a young farmers scheme in the allocation of entitlements from the national reserve; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22257/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraIn accordance with the EU Regulations governing the National Reserve, Member States must give priority access to the two categories of ‘young farmer’ and ‘new entrant to farming’. The National Reserve in 2015 is based on 3% of the Basic Payment Scheme financial ceiling, which is estimated at providing approximately €24 million in funding. Based on the level of applications, with some 6,500 applications having been received, it is expected that there will be considerable demand on the National Reserve fund in 2015.
From 2016 onwards there is no designated funding for the National Reserve. The only source of funding available to the National Reserve will be from clawback from the sale of entitlements without land and from unused entitlements, so the available resource could be limited. It is also expected that the level of demand in 2016 and subsequent years will be significantly less than in 2015 which was the first year of operation of the National Reserve under the Basic Payment Scheme.
