David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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Question 434: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food further to Parliamentary Question No. 1217 of 27 September 2006 regarding issues pertaining to retired farmers, if she has finished examining the issues raised as mentioned in her reply; if she has reached a conclusions on same; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41188/06]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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As indicated in my reply to the earlier question referred to, a group representing retired farmers lodged a petition with the European Parliament Committee on Petitions in May 2003, alleging that Ireland had not implemented correctly the Council Regulations governing the 1994 and 2000 Schemes of Early Retirement from Farming. The Committee requested information from the European Commission. In reply, the Commission made it clear that in its considered opinion there was no question of any infringement having been committed by Ireland in the implementation of the Schemes. The Chairman of the European Parliament Committee on Petitions raised these issues with me again in a letter dated 5 September 2006, while acknowledging the view that the Commission had taken.

A reply to the Chairman of the Petitions Committee is being prepared. Most of the issues raised in his letter were also dealt with in the Report of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food. Certain of the Joint Committee's recommendations are precluded by the EU Regulations under which the current Scheme and its predecessor are operated. I saw merit in other aspects of the Committee's report; and some recommendations have been either fully or partially implemented and others will be considered in the context of the proposal for a new Early Retirement Scheme, which has been included in the draft Development Plan for the period 2007-2013. Following clarification from the European Commission, I have also recently announced increases in the rate of pension under both Schemes. These increases, which are financed entirely from the National Exchequer, will cost some €33 million extra over the remaining period of the two Schemes, and some 5,000 retired farmers will benefit from them.