Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

While I have a script which provides a great deal of technical information in terms of what young farmers are entitled to under the new CAP - direct payments, rural development programmes and positive discrimination in the form of a 20% top-up on single farm payments and access to 60% grant aid for capital investment programmes on their farms, as opposed to the 40% which applies to everybody else - I do not propose to read it.

For some time now, young farmers have been able to benefit from the national reserve and priority treatment in terms of milk quota allocations and so on. A priority for me as part of the CAP reform process was the facilitation and encouragement of generational change in agriculture. As Deputies Kyne and Connaughton work with young and not-so-young farmers, they will understand agriculture and how it works.

I would love to be able to solve the problem for the small cohort of farmers that are falling between two stools, including those who may be under 40 but will miss out because of the five-year rule. Under current regulations, which are mandatory across Europe in that they relate to schemes for young farmers, to qualify, a person must have started farming in the past five years. A person who just missed out on installation aid when the previous Government decided to abolish it and who has been farming for more than five years will not, even if under the age of 40, qualify, in terms of definition, as a young farmer. We discussed with the Commission the possibility of making an exception for the people about whom we are speaking today. However, we cannot do it without changing the regulation, which cannot now be done because the CAP process is finalised and the regulation is set. There are a relatively small number of farmers that are outside the definition of a young farmer and therefore cannot, we are told in definitive terms by the Commission, receive the 25% top-up. Likewise, they do not qualify for 60% grant aid on their farms. They will qualify for 40% grant aid but not for the young farmer top-up.

In this regard, we are currently examining how we could use the national reserve to try to help this cohort of farmers, but we have to do so within the regulations. I do not as a Minister have the power to spend what are essentially European funds, or partial European funds, on a cohort of people that fall outside the definition of young farmers, who are entitled to receive special supports. This is not a straightforward process. I have a great deal of sympathy for this group of farmers, many of whom I know and have met at Macra, IFA and farming events generally. I have a great deal of sympathy for those who missed out on the last occasion on getting financial supports to get themselves started and are now missing out again, essentially because they do not qualify under the definitions. The definitions are the same across Europe. Therefore, I cannot allocate resources that are directly linked to CAP funds without consistent application of the definition, because this will be audited. We are in communication with the Commission regarding what flexibility we may have in terms of how we use national reserve money to provide top-ups under Pillar 1 or supports under Pillar 2. If it is possible to do something, I will. However, I do not want to over-promise at this stage because so far what we have proposed has not been acceptable to the Commission.

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