Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 124: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food if she will implement the recommendations of the Joint Committee on Agriculture and Food report on the farm retirement scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3568/07]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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The Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture published its report on the Early Retirement Schemes in February 2005. The report dealt with a range of issues and I responded to it in detail in September 2005. As I explained in my response, certain of the Committee's recommendations were precluded by the EU Regulations under which the Scheme and its predecessor were operated. The Scheme closed to new entrants on 31 December 2006.

I saw some merit in other aspects of the Committee's report, specifically those relating to income limits and in line with the Joint Committee's recommendations, I increased the off-farm income limit for transferees in the Scheme from €25,400 to €40,000 and abolished the income limit for transferors with effect from 1 September 2006.

The Committee paid particular attention to two further issues. One was the implication of decoupling for retired farmers who had leased out land and quota to transferees before or during the Single Payment Scheme reference period. I believe we secured the best deal that we could for people in this situation, in spite of the reluctance of the Commission at the outset. A specific mandatory category was included in the National Reserve arrangements under the Single Payment Scheme. This category caters for farmers who inherited or otherwise received a holding free of charge or for a nominal amount from a farmer who retired or died before 16 May 2005 where the land in question was leased out to a third party during the reference period. Under these arrangements, where a farm reverted to the retired farmer at the end of a lease without any entitlements, the farmer taking it over will have access to the National Reserve. Retired farmers in the Early Retirement Scheme who farmed during part or all of the reference period and who held Single Payment entitlements could activate entitlements and lease them to their transferees. If the transferee did not wish to use the entitlements, a transferor has until 2007 to lease the entitlements with land to another farmer. Once at least 80% of the entitlements have been used by the lessee, the transferor has the option to sell the entitlements with or without land; otherwise he can continue to lease the entitlements with land.

The second issue the Joint Committee focused particularly on was the levels of payment under the two Schemes. In the course of discussions on this issue, the European Commission had pointed out that the rate in the earlier Scheme was set at the maximum amount for co-funding that the Regulation allowed, and that it would not be possible to secure co-funding for an increase in the rate of pension for existing participants in the 2000–2006 Scheme. The Commission, however, agreed to increases for existing participants in both schemes, funded entirely from the national exchequer as a State aid. I therefore announced substantial increases in the maximum pension rates payable under both Schemes which took effect from 1 November 2006. I increased the maximum pension rate payable under the 1994–99 Scheme from €12,075 to €14,075 per annum and the maximum pension rate payable under the 2000–2006 Scheme from €13,515 to €15,000 per annum. These increases will cost some €33 million extra over the remaining period of the two Schemes, and over 5,000 retired farmers will benefit from them.