Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 1 February 2023
325. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will directly intervene in a national reserve application by a person (details supplied) under 5.10 of the terms and conditions and allow force majeure; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5001/23]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe person named submitted an application under the New Entrant priority category of the 2022 National Reserve to my Department on 13th May 2022. This application was submitted under a herd number held jointly by the person named and a second person of the same name. In line with the EU Regulations governing the operation of the National Reserve, under a herd number held in joint names, both individuals named on the herd number must meet the definition of New Entrant, apart from the educational qualification requirement. This requirement is set out at section 3.1 of the 2022 National Reserve Terms and Conditions.
In this case, as one of the named individuals on the herd number had been farming under the herd number previously, the application was deemed to be unsuccessful as the applicants did not comply with the Regulatory requirements and Terms and Condition of the scheme. An appeal of this decision was submitted, including medical evidence in support of consideration of force majeure. The appeal was considered based on all the information submitted, including the medical evidence, but was unsuccessful. The applicants were advised of the outcome of the appeal on 6th December 2022. As part of this notification the applicants were also advised that if the new entrant farmer held the herd number in his sole name, met the agricultural educational requirements and had not farmed prior to joining the herd number in 2022, he would be eligible to apply under the New Farmer priority category of the National Reserve in 2023 or 2024. A successful application to the National Reserve would provide an allocation of payment entitlements on eligible land for which the applicants hold no entitlements and/or a top up to the national average entitlement value on payment entitlements below the national average value, subject to a maximum of 50 eligible hectares.
The requirement for all members of the joint herd number to meet the new entrant definition is an EU Regulatory requirement applying to all Member States and Ireland has no discretion with regard to the implementation of this requirement.
