Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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276. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will make an allocation for 2016 and 2017 for young farmers under the national reserve scheme; when he will announce the conditions for such a scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17757/16]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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In 2015 the National Reserve fund was based on a 3% cut to the Basic Payment Scheme financial ceiling and provided some €24 million in funding which was the maximum financing rate available under the relevant EU Regulations. When finalised shortly there will be some 6,000 successful applicants under the 2015 National Reserve. As all of the National Reserve funding has been utilised, there is no funding available to cover the operation of a 2016 National Reserve. For 2016 the only source of funding available to the National Reserve will be from ‘clawback’ on the sale of entitlements without land and indications are that the level of funds that will arise from ‘clawback’ during the 2016 scheme year will be minimal. The Regulations also provide that Member States may apply a linear cut to the value of all farmers’ entitlements in order to provide funding for the National Reserve.

The operation of a National Reserve for 2016 would require the re-opening of the 2016 Basic Payment Scheme for applications as, under EU Regulation, applicants to the National Reserve must also submit a valid Basic Payment Scheme application for the year in which they submit the National Reserve application. As the closing date for Basic Payment Scheme applications has now passed, farmers have finalised arrangements regarding the declaration of land for the 2016 scheme year which would have implications for potential National Reserve applicants. The re-opening of Basic Payment Scheme applications at this stage would likely delay the processing of such applications for 2016, with the consequent potential for delay in payments. Furthermore at this stage many young farmers may have entered arrangements to lease in entitlements in 2016 in order to avail of the Greening payment and Young Farmers’ Scheme payment.

From 2017 onwards the National Reserve will be replenished from unused entitlements, as EU Regulations governing the scheme provide that entitlements that are unused for 2 consecutive years are surrendered to the National Reserve. While I am very supportive of the provision of a National Reserve, decisions in relation to the Reserve for 2017 will be considered once the position on potential funding arising from unused entitlements and ‘clawback’ has been established.