Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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Question 389: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food if she will assist young full time farmers who have taken over land from relatives in cases in which there are few entitlements on the farm and who cannot avail of the national reserve for the first time entitlements; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3478/05]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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A young farmer who has commenced farming, having inherited land, will automatically inherit any entitlements established for the farmer from whom the land was inherited. If the young farmer commenced farming in 2001 or 2002 he or she may apply to be treated as a new entrant, during the reference years, in which case his or her own entitlements would be based on one or two years rather than on the three-year average as is normally the case. In such circumstances, the farmer will receive either the inherited entitlements or those based on the new entrant calculation, whichever is more beneficial to him or her.

Where a young farmer commenced a farming activity after the reference period of 2000 to 2002 using land that is leased in, he or she also has the option of leasing in before 16 May 2005 any entitlements established for the farmer from whom the land is leased.

EU regulations provide that member states may provide payment entitlements from the national reserve to young farmers who commenced farming after 31 December 2002 or who, while farming in 2002 did not receive any direct payments in that year. In other words young farmers may be included as a non-mandatory category in the national reserve and the member state is entitled to use objective criteria such as income, farming qualifications etc. in determining eligibility. The single payment advisory committee, comprising representatives of the farming organisations and Teagasc recommended that Ireland cater for this category in the 2005 national reserve. I have accepted this recommendation and have made provisions to include a special category, category D in the reserve for farmers who commenced their farming activities after 31 December 2002 or during 2002 without having received a direct payment in that year.

Young farmers who benefited from the new entrant measures during the reference period or who inherited entitlements may also be eligible, in certain circumstances, for an allocation of entitlements from the reserve by way of a top-up of existing entitlements under the investment category, category B, provided they had made a qualifying investment by 19 October 2003.