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

Currently, approximately 4,800 farmers are in receipt of farm assist, compared with 5,500 in 2020, 6,000 in 2019 and 6,500 in 2018. This is a demand-led scheme and the numbers in receipt of a payment are falling, mainly due to the age profile of the customers. More than 70% of customers are aged 50 and over, more than half of the claimants are aged 55 and over, while 30% are aged 60 and over. I hope that the expansion of the scheme to include a lot of agri-environmental schemes means that more people will qualify. We also need to look at the means test for farm assist because I do not think there is anything more complicated than that test.

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