The Department of Agriculture has clarified its decision to only implement part of omnibus regulations from the EU, which could have addressed a portion of the issues around forgotten farmers.

A spokesperson for the Department told the Irish Farmers Journal: “Successful applicants under the Young Farmers Scheme (YFS) who commenced farming from 2014 onwards and submit their first Young Farmers Scheme (YFS) application within five years of commencement of farming may receive payment under the YFS for five years.”

While this is good news for many young farmers, there remains a number of people under 35 who received their first BPS and commenced farming before 2014 and are still not eligible for the YFS.

The Department has stated that it wasn’t possible to push back the year of entry to the scheme any further due to budgetary constraints and fears that changes would have led to a windfall for young farmers who commenced farming between 2010 and 2013.

“It is estimated that the additional cost of implementing just the first paragraph of the regulatory amendment in Ireland would be in excess of €5.5m in 2018 and €7.5m in 2019, which would result in a requirement for a linear cut to all farmers’ basic payments in order to fund this additional spend under the Young Farmers Scheme.

“The position in Ireland differs from other member states who have an underspend on their YFS and may have the flexibility to implement just the first paragraph of the regulatory amendment.

“However, Ireland is not in a position to exercise this option for the reasons outlined,” the spokesperson stated.

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