186 Miss Fox asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if his attention has been drawn to an early retirement application for a person (details supplied) in County Wicklow whose application has been ongoing since November 1997. [13032/99]

The transferee in this case does not at present meet the enlargement condition of the scheme of early retirement from farming as he does not own the enlargement lands declared in his application. He is currently awaiting the transfer of these to him arising from the purchase by the State of lands in the Powerscourt estate. However, since the contract of purchase of the land in question has not yet been signed by the applicant the land cannot be accepted as fulfilling the early retirement enlargement criteria.