Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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981. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine why under the young farmers scheme 2016 it is a requirement that applicants must have started their agricultural education by 16 May 2016; if he will change this condition, given the long waiting lists to get on qualifying agricultural educational courses; if he will change this requirement to having evidence of an application to attend such a course, rather than the commencement of such a course by 16 May 2016, conditional on no payments being made to applicants, until attendance is verified; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9421/16]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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In line with the introduction of the new Basic Payment Scheme in 2015, Ireland introduced the National Reserve and Young Farmers Schemes which are designed to encourage and facilitate the entrance of young farmers and new entrants to farming. To ensure that the benefits of the ‘young farmer’ and ‘new entrant’ categories are targeted at those who have a genuine interest in farming as a career, Ireland included agricultural education at FETAC level 6 standard or its equivalent as a requirement to qualify for the schemes. In order to maximise the number of young farmers for eligibility under the 2015 National Reserve and Young Farmers schemes, it was decided that any person who meets the other qualifying requirements and commenced a relevant agricultural course anytime up to and including September 2016 would be accepted under the National Reserve and Young Farmers Scheme in 2015.

In September 2015 the EU Commission notified Ireland that the proposal to allow applicants to commence their agricultural education on a date after the date of submitting an application for the National Reserve and/or Young Farmers schemes is contrary to the EU Regulations governing the schemes. Following this clarification my Department immediately took action and made arrangements to have FETAC Level 6 beginners courses made available to all applicants to the 2015 National Reserve and Young Farmers Schemes at the earliest possible date to comply with the notification received from the EU Commission.

In light of this notification from the EU Commission, and in order to comply with EU Regulations pertaining to the implementation of the scheme, all applicants to the 2016 Young Farmers Scheme are required to have commenced their FETAC Level 6 course prior to submitting their application for the scheme in 2016. There is no flexibility within the notification from the EU Commission to allow applicants to commence their FETAC Level 6 course on a date after the submission of the application under the Young Farmers Scheme.