Mr. John Keane:

I will ask Mr. Hanrahan to come in on that shortly. From a long-term lease point of view, tax incentives have been beneficial to the release of land and making land available to the market, which is something we welcomed as a land transfer tool that would give people access to land. However, as the Chair rightly said, we have had instances in recent years, and it continues, where the price of leasing land for long-term lease has become a barrier not only to young farmers but for particular sectors and enterprises within agriculture. If that is compounded with young people in those enterprises who are not able to compete, it becomes an even bigger issue.

If we look to those on the Continent and some of the measures they use to address land leasing and access to land - I include some examples from France and Austria - when a parcel of land becomes available or is offered to the market for lease, in a number of member states, it is offered to a cohort of young farmers first. They have the first opportunity to avail of a lease at a rate that is comparable to the average market rate as opposed to the high-level rates that are achieved.