Pat Deering (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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282. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his views on revisiting his recent proposal for the application to the national reserve for young farmers because the five year rule excludes those young farmers who missed out on installation aid in 2007-08. [3870/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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In accordance with relevant EU Regulations, priority under the National Reserve will be given to farmers meeting the definition of Young Farmer and New Entrant in the first instance. The Regulations also include an optional provision whereby Member States may use the National Reserve to allocate new entitlements or give a top-up on the value of existing entitlements for persons who suffer from a ‘Specific Disadvantage’. The application of this optional use of the Reserve for non-priority categories will be dependent on the availability of funds within the National Reserve once the two priority categories have been allocated.

My Department is aware of the particular category of farmer referred to by the Deputy. In this regard, my Department is engaging with the EU Commission to examine the possibility of including this category of farmer under the “Specific Disadvantage” provision.