Dan Neville (Limerick West, Fine Gael)
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Question 612: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food her views on whether allocation of a milk quota under the restructuring scheme using age as a criteria is age discrimination. [28732/05]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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The purpose of the new entrant or recent entrant category under the milk quota restructuring scheme is to encourage the assimilation of younger farmers into dairying in order to provide for the future development of the sector in circumstances where successors to existing dairy farmers are less available than heretofore. In common with other such schemes, it is necessary to establish criteria to limit the applicability of such measures so that their specific objectives are met. In this case, some 25% of the restructuring quota pool has been reserved for applicants under the age of 35 years.

The scheme makes an important contribution to securing the commitment to dairying of the next generation of producers and complements other policies that seek to make careers in farming more attractive for younger farmers. Such policies are neither discriminatory nor unfair. Rather, they are targeted measures that indirectly benefit the farming sector by supporting its future development. They are necessary incentives to maintaining the commitment of young trained farmers in the sector against the competing and expanding range of alternative opportunities for them outside of farming. The policy of providing specific incentives to young farmers has the support of all farm organisations.