Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In seeking relief under the section certification is required from Teagasc that they are qualifying farm restructuring transactions. If this certification is not received, owners of farmland sold by way of CPO or otherwise will not be eligible for the relief. If the sale is for restructuring purposes, it will be certified by Teagasc and the relief will apply, but in other circumstances it will not. I do not intend to alter the policy on CPO acquired land. I do not know whether the Deputy can recall the strong campaign run by the farming organisations to increase the compensation paid by the National Roads Authority to farmers when the national roads programme was well under way and motorways were being built in parts of the country. That held up the programme for a while and the issue was resolved by significantly increasing the compensation paid. Subsequently, the then Minister for Finance abolished roll-over relief and, in effect, pulled back some of the advantage acquired under the regulation. I do not plan to change the position. However, we can always look at the issue in future Finance Bills.