Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

The Deputy has made a number of relevant points. On farm scale and consolidation, he is correct that farm consolidation relief ran out at the end of June. I have already submitted a package of taxation measures to the Department of Finance which it is hoped will be approved in advance of the budget. Through that package I am trying to achieve a number of things, the first of which is to increase land mobility in Ireland, in other words, ensuring we will have more land for sale. For example, while the average field in France comes up for sale once every 70 years, in Ireland it only comes up for sale once every 400 years. We have a problem with the availability of land for purchase, which means the price of agricultural land is far higher than it should be. Second, I want to ensure continued support for longer term leases in order that people will be able to get their hands on land to expand in order to achieve scale. Third, I want to encourage the handing over of land to younger farmers fresh out of college who are full of new ideas and energy, whom it is hoped will receive support, in terms of a top-up payment, through the new proposals attached to the single farm payment. We want to get young farmers farming, as only 7% of farmers in Ireland are under 35 years of age, which is not good enough.

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