Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)

I received the committee's report on 7 April and my officials are examining it. This report arises from an investigation by the committee of a complaint by a group representing retired farmers. My Department provided the committee with a comprehensive formal written response to the complaint and also attended a meeting of the committee in July 2003 to answer questions from members. The report covers a range of issues, including taxation issues, which are outside my remit. I will address the issues shortly in a formal response to the committee.

I am naturally anxious that the early retirement scheme delivers maximum benefits to retired farmers. However this is an EU-funded scheme and I am constrained by the regulations under which it was introduced. The same group of retired farmers made an identical complaint to the European Commission which the Commission did not uphold. The Commission concluded, in other words, that the Department is administering the scheme correctly and in accordance with the governing EU regulations.

The Department has recently conducted an expenditure review of the current early retirement scheme and copies were laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas on 13 April. The expenditure review process was established by the Department of Finance in 1997 in the context of the strategic management initiative. The purpose of the review of the early retirement scheme is to analyse systematically whether the scheme is meeting its objectives and to inform future decisions regarding priorities on expenditure programmes. The Department's review includes a number of conclusions and recommendations that will help to inform my response to the report of the joint committee.

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