Mr. John Keane:

I will address the question on funding. I mention the funding from a young farmer's point of view in the context of CAP, which our focus consistently has been on. If you look at the 3% set aside under pillar 1 for direct payments, the 60% grant aid support set aside for TAMS or the supports set aside for the national reserve and the guarantee of the national reserve for the next few years, there are some measures which will support and enhance support for young farmers. However, there is a dearth in supports outside of those. For example, there is no provision of financial instruments under CAP, which was one of the key measures brought forward to address access to finance for young farmers. No support was brought forward in the land mobility service either, which was identified in the Department’s SWOT analysis as being a tool which can be used to support the transfer of farm land. It was also called out in the Commission’s document on supporting access to land and access for young farmers to start in the sector.

We are the only EU member state that has not selected installation aid as a support measure for young farmers. Taking that in the round, not only have we not selected measures to support young farmers to even maintain the status quo but we have chosen to not actively support measures that will achieve objectives around generational renewal, which was called out as one of the key objectives of the CAP. While we have been told time and again that the national Exchequer will support young farmers and in increasing the percentage of farmers under the age of 35, here we are and we are still left with a gaping hole in the supports that are required in the context of land mobility, access to finance and access to business start-up support for young farmers.