Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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324. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his plans for opening up the application process to apply for the young farmers reserve for single farm payment entitlements; when the scheme will open; the age restriction for young farmers; if there will be an off farm income limit above which young farmers will not be able to go if they were to qualify for consideration for entitlements; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48271/14]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Significant priority is given to those who qualify as young farmers under the new regime of Direct Payments which takes effect in 2015. Such persons will have access to the National Reserve and will also receive an additional payment under the Young Farmers Scheme. Successful applicants to the National Reserve will receive an allocation of entitlements based on the eligible land declared on their 2015 Basic Payment Scheme application at a value equal to the national average value of entitlements in the year of application. Successful applicants who already hold entitlements which are below the national average value will receive a top-up whereby the value of those entitlements will be increased to the national average value.

To qualify as a ‘young farmer’, a farmer must meet all of the following conditions:

- S/he is participating in the Basic Payment Scheme

- S/he is aged no more than 40 years of age in the year when s/he first submits an application under the Basic Payment Scheme

- S/he is setting up an agricultural holding for the first time or has set up such a holding during the five years preceding the first submission of the Basic Payment Scheme application

- S/he has successfully completed a recognised course of education in agriculture giving rise to an award at FETAC level 6 or its equivalent or commits to undertaking such a course before the end of September 2016.

After consultation with the Direct Payment Advisory Committee comprising of members of the main farming bodies and advisory services, I have decided that an off-farm income limit of €40,000 will be applied to all applicants. Under the previous National Reserve Schemes, this limit was €30,000. A maximum allocation that any one farmer may receive from the National Reserve has been fixed at 90 entitlements.

Applications to the National Reserve, and the Young Farmers Scheme, will be accepted from January 2015 by way of the Department’s AgFood online facility which can be accessed at .