Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I must disagree with the Deputy. The tax measures in the budget will benefit farmers with income difficulties caused by volatility because the income averaging arrangement has been further tweaked to allow those farmers with an off-farm income or whose spouses have an off-farm income to be able to avail of the opt out. This will benefit a substantial cohort of farmers who are currently excluded from that income averaging, the purpose of which is to address volatility issues, so it is not the case that there was no acknowledgement of the challenges around income averaging.

With regard to financial products, I do not think the Deputy and I will ever agree on this. The challenge for us is that if we have some money to spend, are we replicating something with taxpayers' money that is already in the market and, therefore, in a way, not delivering something new because the product will not be delivered? Farmers will not apply to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine for this working capital; they will apply to the pillar banks. If we are not delivering something new and it is already in the market without State support, could that money not be better spent on other things such as investment finance, areas of natural constraint payments or a beef initiative?

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