Dan Neville (Limerick West, Fine Gael)
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Question 61: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food if she has plans to review the farm retirement scheme; if so, when this review will take place; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17490/06]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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The EU Regulations under which my Department operates the current Early Retirement Scheme will expire in December, and no new applications can be accepted after that. The Council Regulation on Rural Development for the period from 2007 to 2013 includes provision for member States to operate a range of measures including a scheme of early retirement from farming. No decisions have yet been taken regarding which schemes will be operated in Ireland under this Regulation. The option of an early retirement scheme will be looked at in light of the need for structural reform and the need to provide opportunities for young farmers.

As regards the current Scheme, it was the subject of a comprehensive expenditure review by my Department in 2004. Together with the previous Scheme, it was also the subject of a Report by the Joint Committee on Agriculture and Food in 2004. I am still considering certain aspects of the Joint Committee's report and I expect to be in a position to make announcements in due course. A number of the Committee's recommendations are, as I explained in my detailed response to the Report, precluded by the EU Regulations under which the current Scheme and its predecessor are operated.