Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 184:

In page 142, between lines 19 and 20, to insert the following:“Income volatility for the farming sector

60.The Minister shall within 3 months of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before the Oireachtas a report on the feasibility of introducing further tax provisions and stabilisation tools to deal with income volatility for farm enterprises both in terms of income tax and corporation tax.”.

Moves have been made in recent years to deal with income volatility in the agricultural sector. These have been welcomed, especially income averaging and step-out measures and so on. Further proposals have been made, as the Minister is aware, by farm organisations. These include different strands of suggestions around a farm management deposit scheme to address volatility. We have seen in recent years how incomes can be directly affected by weather events, commodity prices and so on. Did the Minister give serious consideration to those proposals? Why has he decided not to make further moves in this area?