Mr. John Keane:

The number of applicants was 8,700 a number of years ago and we are now down to 7,400 so I will outline how we propose to address that in the coming years. When we are dealing with it in reality, if you look back to 2014 when the previous CAP was due to expire and the current CAP was due to start, in 2015 there was an increase in the number of young farmers who took up the young farmers scheme and who accessed the national reserve that year because of negotiations and the uncertainty around where the ball would land with it. We anticipate, as does the Department, that in 2023 there will be some bounce from that also. I refer to getting more young farmers into that scheme and into the national reserve and what that should look like. I know the Deputy touched on the five-year rule and we have made contributions to the Department on the extension of same up towards seven years because the reality is that there is a short window in which to draw the funding down. I might come back to that point later.

The number of people entering Teagasc colleges and doing farming-related modules has never been higher than it has been in recent years and that is a credit to the education that is being provided there. We need to see a follow-through from that education to active young farmers on the ground doing that. A one-size-fits-all approach will not do that and there is no single measure or silver bullet that will resolve it. We see addressing those barriers we touched on earlier as the key. A fully funded national reserve, which we currently have in the draft, is crucially important to that. The barriers for people starting off in their careers also must be addressed.

As Mr. Dillon touched on, those are finance, land and the start-up or installation aid. That initial boost of capital is crucially important because young farmers are coming back to us and saying that if they are drawing down the investment support under the targeted agricultural modernisation scheme, TAMS, at the 60% rate that currently is in place, given the increase in the overall cost of inputs over the past 12 months that we have seen, that 60% represents somewhere more in the region of between 38% and 45% of the overall cost of the investment. Young farmers do not have the financial capacity to meet that balance, whether that be 40% or 60% of the total cost. They do not have the financial power or backing to do that. What is happening is that the necessary development at farm level, whether that be in infrastructure, buildings, livestock, grassland or grazing, is needed by a young farmer in order to provide a lifestyle and an income. If someone starting out is not able to do that then it becomes an onerous and arduous job because he or she does not have the right facilities, tools or grazing infrastructure and it makes the job difficult. It is a turn-off for young farmers when they have entered the job. During the initial two-year period when someone starts out in their career in farming, that start-up and installation aid is providing for that gap in finance, which leaves young farmers the ability to invest in the newest technologies and research that return income and make the lifestyle on the farm easier because those facilities are more amenable to shorter and more productive working hours and reduced labour intensity on the farm.

A number of issues will resolve that as opposed to a one-size-fits all approach. We recognise the commitment to the national reserve and we hope that remains fully funded, as well as the €35 million per annum for the young farmers scheme. That must remain fully funded over the period of the next CAP as well because both of those measures are crucially important in starting out.