Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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Question 433: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and the Marine his plans to introduce an early retirement scheme for farmers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29801/11]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Following the suspension of the Early Retirement Scheme on 14 October, 2008 due to budgetary constraints it became apparent that there was a number of farmers who had their preparations to apply for the Scheme completed or close to completion at that point. The Scheme was re-opened temporarily on 23 September 2009 with limited additional funding with a view to accepting as many as possible of the applications that fell into this category. I have no plans to re-open this Scheme or introduce another Scheme at this time.