Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the delegations for their attendance. I will not repeat the points made by other members. Land mobility is a key issue. We need to encourage people to participate in land leasing. Capital acquisitions tax and agricultural relief are crucial to land mobility. For younger farmers to have the opportunity to access and to grow their enterprises, we must encourage more people to participate in land leasing. I refer to the changeover from the RDP when a very bad thing happened because those who had long-term leases were the ones who were penalised and ended up worse off than those who had been on conacre. Fianna Fáil wanted us to do a cost-benefit analysis on the €25 million that was set aside for that but in my view that money was very well spent because people could not be penalised for having entered into what we were encouraging them to do in the long term.

I take on board the points made about farm partnerships. I refer to the IFA policy on compulsory purchase. Is it an element of roll-over relief on the supply licences and co-op shares? The days of building roads through farms has gone. I ask Ms Rowena Dwyer to comment.

The role of this committee is to deal with all aspects of agriculture as opposed to finance but the finances are key. It is important to hear submissions from all the farming organisations and to engage with them well in advance of the budget so that we can work with a concerted voice in the autumn to ensure that the agriculture sector is well protected. This review of the taxation model provides a significant opportunity and we must ensure we get it right.