Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 80 and 85 together.

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. Farm assist is a statutory income support specifically for farmers on low incomes. There are approximately 4,800 claims in payment at present. The Government has provided €53.9 million for the scheme for 2022. The means assessment under farm assist is generous when compared with the means test applied under jobseeker's allowance for other self-employed individuals. Farmers also retain the advantages of jobseekers, such as access to activation programmes.

Further to the commitment in the programme for Government and in the Rural Development Policy 2021-2025, my Department recently reviewed the means assessment disregards for farm assist. The report is available on my Department's website.

One of the key recommendations of the report was to provide for an extensive expansion to the list of agri-environmental schemes that qualify for a disregard. I introduced this measure as part of the Social Welfare Act 2022 and it will be implemented from next month, four months earlier than had been previously announced.

If a farmer is in receipt of one of these grants at the average payment of €2,132, this measure could provide for a weekly increase in his or her farm assist of up to €28.70 depending on individual circumstances.

The other recommendations in the report, which include increases in the capital disregard and income disregarded from off-farm earnings, would have to be considered as part of the budgetary process.

I have also agreed to carry out a review of how income from land leased out by farmers is treated in the means assessments for the State non-contributory pension and the farm assist scheme. This is being progressed within my Department. In addition, budget 2022 introduced a targeted package of social protection supports, including a €5 weekly increase on standard weekly social welfare rates, increases to the qualified child payment rates and the fuel allowance.

I have a list of other schemes that we plan to examine. Apart from the extension to the agri-environmental schemes, the report states that we should consider increasing the daily disregard from off-farm income, increasing the capital disregard, streamlining the approach to depreciation and continue to work with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine to identify schemes included in the CAP strategic plan that will yield environmental benefits and could be disregarded under farm assist. We will examine these in the budgetary context. In the most recent budget we provided that all of the different agri-environmental schemes will attract a disregard in the means test. The first €2,540 is disregarded and after that, 50% applies. There are other measures in the report, which I have just listed. Indeed, having looked at the number of farm schemes on the list, I think there are more farm schemes than social welfare schemes. All the other schemes are going to be included in the disregards, including the beef exceptional measure, the beef data scheme, the beef environmental scheme, the dairy beef calf scheme, the results-based environmental scheme, the agri-pilot programme, the sheep welfare scheme, afforestation programme, ash dieback scheme, creation of woodland and public land scheme, the deer tree shelter and deer-hare fencing scheme, the forestry grants, and the premium schemes. There is a lot of them and they are all going to be included; that is the good news.

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