Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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317. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will review the criteria blocking young farmers who are under 40 years of age but who have been farming for more than five years from accessing measures under the new CAP programme for young farmers including applying for the national reserve and also for top up entitlements; the reason they are currently excluded; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4394/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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In accordance with the EU Regulations governing the Young Farmer Scheme and National Reserve, eligibility for payment is limited to farmers under 40 years of age who commenced their farming activity no more than five years prior to submitting the Basic Payment Scheme application. These schemes are intended to provide financial assistance to young farmers during the period immediately following the setting up of their farming enterprise. My Department has no discretion regarding these eligibility criteria and as such it is not possible to extend the Young Farmers Scheme or Young Farmers category of the National Reserve to include the group of farmers as proposed by the Deputy.

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.