Mr. Aidan O'Driscoll:

It is not in the current rural development programme. I cannot answer as to whether it will be in a future programme. That will be for post-2020 and I really cannot answer at this stage. For a start, we do not know what the shape of the rural development regulation itself will be, as it might change by then. That scheme was successful in encouraging some farmers to move to early retirement. However, it was often criticised - I think with some justification - that it addressed early retirement rather than retirement. The figures read out by the Chairman relate to farmers over 65 and so on. The early retirement scheme did not really address that. It actually encouraged people to go early.