John Perry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 380: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food the steps she will take to protect the entitlements of farmers in the ERS 2 where they are unable to lease out entitlements or where entitlements are activated but not drawn down for whatever reason (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3869/06]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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My Department was aware, from an early stage in the negotiations leading to the introduction of the single payment scheme, of the possible implications for retired farmers who had leased their holdings. In so far as it proved possible in the context of the EU regulations governing the single payment scheme, and following lengthy discussions with the European Commission, provision was made under the rules of the single payment scheme to address some of the concerns of retired farmers. It was open to participants in the current early retirement scheme, who would have farmed during part or all of the reference period, to activate entitlements in 2005 and lease them to their existing transferee. If the transferee did not want the entitlements, the transferor or retired farmer who has already activated the entitlements has until 2007 either to lease the entitlements or transfer them, with land, to another farmer.