Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In accordance with the EU regulations governing the national reserve and the young farmer scheme, a "young farmer" is defined as a farmer aged no more than 40 years in the year when she or he first submits an application under the basic payment scheme and who commenced farming activity no more than five years prior to submitting that application. The regulation also provides that priority under the national reserve is given to "young farmers" and to "new entrants to farming". A new entrant is defined as a farmer who commenced agricultural activity during the previous two years. The regulations governing the operation of the national reserve also include an optional provision whereby member states may use the national reserve to allocate new entitlements or give a top-up on the value of existing entitlements for persons who suffer from a "specific disadvantage".

Following my Department’s consultation with the EU Commission, the then Minister announced in March 2015 that the group commonly known as "old young farmers", who established their holding between 1 January 2008 and 31 December 2009 and who, due to the timeframe of setting up their holding, did not benefit from either the installation aid or the young farmer category of the national reserve, can be considered a group suffering from specific disadvantage. The result is that this group was eligible to apply under the national reserve measure of the 2015 basic payment scheme. Some 280 applicants were successful under the old young farmer category of the 2015 national reserve.

The Deputy may also be referring to the group of farmers commonly known as the "forgotten farmer" group. This group comprises farmers aged under 40 who established their holdings prior to 2008 and who hold low-value entitlements. Preliminary analysis carried out by my Department shows there are some 3,900 farmers in this category. An estimation of the cost of increasing the value of existing entitlements to the national average for these 3,900 farmers stands at over €12 million.

There was no national reserve in 2016 as all available funding, €24 million, had been utilised under the 2015 scheme. In order to provide for a national reserve in 2017, funding is required to replenish the reserve. EU regulations governing the scheme provide that funding for the replenishment of the national reserve may be obtained by means of surrender of entitlements that remain unused by farmers for two consecutive years and by claw-back derived following the sale of entitlements without land. It is envisaged that funding derived from these two sources in 2017 will be very limited. The regulations also provide for the application of a linear cut to the value of all farmers’ entitlements to replenish the national reserve.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House

Under the national reserve, priority access must be given to the two mandatory categories of "young farmer" and "new entrant to farming". Support for other categories, such as those that may be regarded as suffering from "specific disadvantage", can only be considered once the two mandatory categories have been catered for. EU Commission approval would be required to have the forgotten farmer group included under the specific disadvantage category of the national reserve. Information submitted to the Department on behalf of this group of farmers indicates that many have established holdings as far back as the 1990s.

In order to qualify for the national reserve, all applicants must have achieved the required level of agricultural education at FETAC level-6 standard and comply with the off-farm income limits pertaining to the national reserve. Decisions in regard to the national reserve for 2017 will be considered once the position on potential funding has been established.

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