Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the gentlemen for the presentations. The first portion dealt with the rural development plan and the transfer of land to young farmers. If we are to preserve rural Ireland as we have known it, this must be a core policy objective. The train is leaving the station and if policy does not change very quickly, the family farm structure as we know it will disappear. The current policies go against retaining the family farm. There are incentives which do the same and encourage farmers to lease land to non-family members. The ownership and working of land need to be separated. If the family farm structure is to continue to the next generation and the one after, the young farmer must farm the land. It is not enough to own it as that will last for a generation and the family will then disappear over the horizon.

We have incentives, especially in this country, that have EU approval but they encourage large commercial farmers to take over tracts of land. It will destroy the family farm structure and unless we change those policy objectives soon, it will be too late. If I want to transfer my farm to my son, there is no tax incentive to do so. If I lease the land to a stranger three, four or five miles away, there is a very significant tax incentive. It is destroying the family farm structure. Unless we do something about it very quickly, the entire family farm structure will disappear. That would be very regrettable.

Our dairy herd size has increased dramatically and there is much demand for land. With the incentives, the price of leased land is getting very high. If a young farmer wants to work on the family farm and expand a bit, he would not be able to compete with the larger units in the area. He would be squeezed and feel he would not have a viable unit. There are problems with policy objectives and if we are serious about preserving rural Ireland, we must examine them quickly.

There is the question of how the schemes have been implemented. We have heard an amount of hard luck stories from young farmers who failed to qualify for the existing aid.

Everyone sitting at this table can provide a list of such stories. A fellow who kept a few cattle when he was in college would fall outside the five-year rule when he takes over the farm. If he had animals in his name at 20 and takes over the farm at 26, he is not eligible for young farmer aid. There are other instances of this. For example, if a young farmer took over the farm for health or family reasons after the age of 35, he would be left on a very low payment and would likely see no future in it going forward. This scheme has not worked well in practice.

Our family farm structure is crumbling. It is a structure which has served rural Ireland very well but the policies in place are undermining it. If one looks at the amount of mountain land being farmed by individuals - not owned, but farmed - one will see that it is increasing rapidly. The policy coming from and approved by the Commission is all geared towards large commercial units, which might be more effective for food production but which are certainly not conducive to good rural communities. If that family farm structure disappears, rural Ireland as I know it will be dead and gone.

Before I became a Member of the Oireachtas, I was the leader of a farming organisation. The family farm structure, to me, is sacrosanct, but as it stands we are losing it very quickly.