Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 6 and 30 together.

This year, the Department will spend approximately €91 million on the farm assist scheme and it is expected that an average of 9,900 individuals will be in receipt of this payment each week. The farm assist scheme is based on jobseeker’s allowance. For example, a person with an adult dependant and two children with a means-assessable income from farming of €15,000 per annum would qualify for a farm assist payment of €84.40 per week. Farm assist recipients retain all the advantages of the jobseeker’s allowance scheme, such as the retention of secondary benefits and access to activation programmes. Recent changes to the scheme have brought it into closer alignment with the jobseeker’s allowance scheme’s treatment of self-employed persons because, as the Deputy is aware, most of those on this scheme have an income from farming.

Farm assist is a flexible payment and any farmer experiencing lower levels of income or cash flow issues can ask his or her local social welfare or Intreo office to review the level of means applying to his or her claim. The assessment of means for the purpose of qualifying for farm assist is designed to reflect the actual net income from farming. Income and expenditure figures for the preceding year are generally used as an indicator of the expected position in the following year. However, account is taken of any exceptional circumstances to ensure the assessment accurately reflects the current situation. Since becoming Minister, I introduced this measure for both self-employed people and farmers.

Prior to that, the assessments were based on the preceding year's accounts and if a person had a catastrophic fall in income it was very difficult for that person to get farm assist benefit.

As part of the normal budget process, all potential budget measures, including any changes to the farm assist scheme, are assessed in terms of the impact they would have if introduced. Since the introduction of the changes to the farm assist scheme over recent budgets, the scheme is being kept under ongoing review. There are no plans to review it immediately but it will be examined in the context of the forthcoming budget.

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