Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)

I wish to begin by replying to Deputy Collins. Not every farmer in the country wants to build houses or become a developer on his or her land-holding. Those people are in the minority. I remind the Deputy that the arrangements he spoke about are only guidelines and that the county development plans of each county take precedence over those guidelines. In response to Deputy Brady, the Government in question was not a Democratic Left-led Government. There were three parties in that particular arrangement.

I represent a party that traditionally would not be aligned to the farming community. However, in terms of my wholehearted supported for this motion, I can give an analysis that is unfettered and devoid of political expediency. I do not intend to be politically expedient tonight, but to speak of the facts.

We reside in a European Union where UK young farmers represent 5.6% of the total farming workforce and Irish young farmers represent 10.5%. These percentages are from a report from the European Parliament issued in May 2008 and represent farmers under the age of 35. If we are to be innovative in the manner we create jobs during the current downturn, we need to create incentives. The only way to create incentives is to ensure that coterie of the population — the under 35s — who are interested in becoming involved in agriculture get the financial incentives to do so.

There is an economic rationale for ensuring the early retirement scheme and installation aid scheme for young farmers are maintained. By allowing these new farmers to enter the sector, which is a productive sector and generates revenues of €8.6 billion per annum in food and drink exports about which the Minister spoke, we encourage innovation. However, by culling the scheme, we create a disincentive. At a time when, for example, FÁS has a budget of €1.05 billion, we have spent €48.4 billion on the indigenous sector through Enterprise Ireland and we are spending €90 million on capital expenditure for IDA Ireland, all of which is for job creation, there is a ratio of that kind of investment for every job created. Therefore, every job created costs the economy a certain amount, a specific figure which I have not been able to ascertain.

Therefore, by creating, allowing or facilitating the installation aid scheme and by investing in each and every one of the young farmers new to the sector, the Government is progressing the sector and creating a job, or in economic terms a multiplier effect, that ensures the rural economy will continue to be maintained. This is a rational, objective and cold view that is devoid of any political expediency.

These schemes are essential if we are to maintain our comparative advantage within the rural economy. If the Government continues to remove funds from the rural economy, the rural depopulation we have witnessed, the lack of proper infrastructure and the lack of expenditure within that economy will have a further detrimental effect. Any person who avails of a scheme such as the young farmer installation aid does not spend the money in Santa Ponsa, but invests it in his or her own farmholding, generally in a way that is innovative and will increase the yield or return to that farm.

To return to the demographics, the bulk of farmers are within a certain age group and there is a certain wisdom that comes with that intergenerational solidarity that occurs within the sector. However, with every new influx of blood, there comes new ideas. We talk about issues such as carbon off-setting and the possibility of micro-energy production, but if we talk about innovative ideas, we need to ensure the incentive is there to allow young people come into the sector. What the Minister has done by culling the scheme is to disincentivise them and that is not the way to go.

I represent a rural-urban mix of a constituency. My constituency traditionally had large agribusiness interests, but these have declined over a period of time. There is now a real opportunity for people of my generation to come into the sector. These people will have a farming mix that will involve energy creation and a different type of product mix that will yield benefits to the country in the long run. Therefore, I urge the Minister to rethink the changes.

I conclude by quoting from Macra na Feirme, which has a rational position on these issues:

Macra is demanding the complete reopening of the young farmer installation aid scheme. This scheme was agreed under the Social Partnership for 2007-2013 and is co-funded by the EU.

If it is a co-funded procedure devised under social partnership pillars, we must honour the agreement, just as we honour all the other pillars of the social partnership arrangement in the country.

See this speech in context