Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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260. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the method he will apply to include young farmers in the national reserve, if this is oversubscribed; if he plans on cutting the maximum amount of entitlements allocated to each farmer, or the value of the entitlements; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8753/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Under the EU Regulations governing the establishment of the National Reserve, Member States can use up to 3% of the financial ceiling allocated to the Basic Payment Scheme to establish a National Reserve. I decided to opt for the 3% maximum available in order to provide a National Reserve fund of €24.79 million in 2015. The closing date for receipt of applications under the two priority categories of Young Farmer and New Entrant of the National Reserve is 31 March 2015 and the closing date for receipt of applications under the 2nd phase of the National Reserve will be 15 May 2015. It is not possible to estimate the total cost of applications under the National Reserve until after that date. In the event that the National Reserve is oversubscribed, my Department will examine the options available under the relevant EU Regulations.