Denis Naughten (Longford-Roscommon, Fine Gael)

I move amendment No. 5:

In page 4, line 21, after "discharged" to insert the following:

"where such a discharge date is not less than 2 years after the commencement date of the scheme".

This is an important, sensible and straightforward amendment that was discussed on Committee Stage. Given that the Minister of State has had an opportunity over the summer to consider it in full, I am sure he will be in a position to accept it.

I have made my point concerning the arrears. The sole objective behind this legislation must be to address the problems relating to those 98 people and ensure we can facilitate them in availing of the scheme. I have been critical of the fact that there is only a 25% discount and it does not cover arrears. However, it is imperative that we encourage people to take up this scheme as far as possible. For this reason, I have tabled this amendment.

My understanding, and the Minister provided me with clarity on Committee Stage, is that there will be a six month window of opportunity. This is wholly inadequate. The single farm payment is paid on an annual basis and may not facilitate farmers even if it is significant enough to make the repayment. It is disappointing the Government will leave such a limited window. I know the Minister argued that interest is cancelled on a six monthly basis and it is important that only a six month window of opportunity exists because otherwise each of the individuals concerned must be written to a second time. The cost of a stamp should not be an excuse not to increase the window of opportunity for these farmers. I ask the Minister of State to re-examine this issue.

Many cases may involve serious legal difficulties regarding land. Even with the lands division in Cavan working on this matter, the substantial backlog has not yet been rectified or resolved. That will delay the purchase of land by individuals. The Department cannot clear the decks within six months because it is not physically possible to clarify the title of many of these properties within that period. Therefore, it is unfair to only allow a six month period for farmers to avail of this scheme.

The Minister of State is aware of the issues relating to the purchase of land from his experience with compulsory purchase orders. I know he will state either publicly in the House or privately to me that selling a site or two would pay the repayments due. A site cannot be disposed of if the case involves significant issues regarding land title. On Committee Stage I gave an example of a farmer who had not availed of the facility prior to the closing date dying within the six month period. I thank the Minister of State for writing a reply to me, in which he stated that nothing exists to impede the executor of the will or the legal representative of the deceased availing of the buy-out offer on behalf of the deceased annuitant within the six month period.

If anyone in the House is unfortunate enough to need to deal with solicitors with regard to executing wills and going through this process, he or she will find that in many cases it will take far in excess of six months to resolve the issues. Some cases involve substantial inheritance tax issues, and the Minister of State will require the people affected to take out an overdraft, charge the interest against the estate and the inheritance tax that will need to be paid and accumulate a further liability in order to avail of the scheme.

I have no difficulty if the Minister of State wishes to re-write this section of the Bill to state that people must sign up and express an interest within six months, and then allow a window of opportunity for payments to be made. At least that would facilitate it in some way. The mechanism in place is extremely prescriptive and will not facilitate a large percentage of farmers who have substantial arrears to organise loans with banks, to generate the revenue to pay off the debt and on top of that pay off the principal of the moneys owed to the Department.

See this speech in context