Retirement scheme ‘must be flexible’

A new European Union early retirement scheme (ERS) must be more flexible and more attractive for farmers.

That’s what Irish Farmers Association Rural Development Committee chairman Padraic Divilly told a meeting of the Cork West IFA County Executive in Dunmanway.

He said EU draft guidelines to implement the ERS from 2007 give an opportunity to implement a better scheme than the current one and to remove many of the barriers to farmers who want to retire.