Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)

A number of groups purport to represent retired farmers with special concerns about the early retirement scheme. The Minister, Deputy Coughlan, and the Minister of State, Deputy Browne, met some of these groups and I met a deputation from the mid-west in the Department some time ago who outlined their concerns.

Deputy James Breen referred to comments by the former Minister, Deputy Walsh. The then Minister and his officials raised with the European Commission the possibility of increasing the maximum rate of payment in respect of the scheme that operated between 1994 and 1999. The Department and the Minister raised the matter with the Commission on several occasions at that time. The Commission firmly replied that the maximum payment of €12,075 could not be increased under any circumstances, even if the Exchequer paid for it. That is what Deputy Walsh referred to, as far as I know.

The Department sought index-linking when it submitted to the Commission its initial proposal in respect of the current scheme. That proposal was rejected by the Commission, through its legal services, on the basis that one could not index-link or pay by increments a "contract", which is what it considered the retirement scheme to be. I have spoken about some of the issues that have caused us concern over the years.

I discussed some of the issues raised by Deputy James Breen in my initial response to him. People who did not actively farm at that time cannot activate entitlements under the single payments scheme. The scheme pertains to people who actively farmed at that time. The Department and the then Minister succeeded in reaching agreement with the European Commission on a number of issues which will benefit family members or others who can take over holdings which were farmed by third parties who had leased them during the reference period.

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