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

Successive Ministers in previous Administrations have always stipulated the educational qualification of young farmers as a criterion. We have to notify the Commission that it is an additional requirement that we are imposing so that our requirements are compatible with its requirements. The Commission has always approved the requirements that we, exercising a domestic competence, add to its requirements. We cannot do anything that would be incompatible with its regulations. Our requirements in terms of educational attainment are and have always been domestic and have always been endorsed by the advisory group that advises the Minister on these matters. That group comprises the farming organisations, which have always agreed with those requirements. The national reserve is a scarce and valuable resource, but it is not the Department's resource. It is made up of farmers' resources. If we make this entitlement available to other farmers, it comes, by virtue of a linear cut, from everyone else's entitlements. It is a valuable entitlement that is much sought after, so it is only fair that we have objective criteria in terms of active farmers, farm income and educational qualifications to ensure that it is directed at those who are active farmers.

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