Eamon Scanlon (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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1729. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will extend the eligibility conditions of the long established young farmers scheme by two years to include those farming on or before 31 December 2009; the rationale behind the current eligibility date of December 2007; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44705/25]

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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The application window for the scheme to support Long Established Young Farmers has closed and there are no plans to extend the eligibility criteria.

Since the time my Department was first approached in 2015 with regard to the group commonly referred to as forgotten farmers, the group was defined as young farmers who were under the age of 40 in 2015, had established their holdings prior to 2008 and were not eligible for young farmer supports under the CAP from 2015.  The request for support for the forgotten farmer group in 2015 was for inclusion under the Basic Payment Scheme National Reserve as a group suffering from specific disadvantage.  This definition of forgotten farmer has remained consistent since 2015.  

The CAP from 2015 provided supports to young farmers who had established their holdings from 2010. Furthermore, in recognition of the withdrawal of the Installation Aid Scheme in October 2008, and following my Department’s consultation with the EU Commission, the then Minister announced in March 2015 that the group commonly known as ‘Old Young Farmers’, who established their holding between 1 January 2008 and 31 December 2009, and who, due to the timeframe of setting up their holding did not benefit from either Installation Aid or the Young Farmer category of the National Reserve, could be considered as a ‘group suffering from specific disadvantage’. The result was that this group was eligible to apply for support under the National Reserve measure of the 2015 Basic Payment Scheme.