Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

A number of constituents have been on to me about the VAT treatment of slurry bags. A slurry bag is an efficient way of increasing slurry storage capacity on many farms. The vast majority of Irish farmers are not registered for VAT but certain items of infrastructure are VAT reclaimable for unregistered farmers. The rule of thumb usually is that the object that the VAT is reclaimable on cannot be moved.

I have had a lot of correspondence with Revenue in the past couple of months to try to get this position clarified. Revenue says that it deems the slurry bags to be moveable infrastructure. With respect, that is utter nonsense. Anyone who would see a slurry bag that is put into operation would know that it is not possible to move it. I would like to give an example. Bulk milk tanks that are put in on farms are VAT reclaimable and a bulk milk tank could feasibly be moved from one farm to the other but it would be next nigh impossible to move slurry bags. In an era when we are trying to increase slurry capacity on farms, to put this extra cost on farmers is just not acceptable.

In the majority of cases, slurry bags are put on small and medium-sized farms. It is a very efficient and cost-effective way of increasing slurry capacity. I am completely unsatisfied with the answers I have got from Revenue, and I want the Department of Finance to direct Revenue that slurry bags be VAT reclaimable for unregistered farmers. This is common sense, but it is a fair approach as well. As I have said, the rule of thumb is that the infrastructure cannot be moved, and most definitely, on any farms where slurry bags are installed, they just cannot or would not be moved.

I do not want the answer that Revenue is an independent body. That answer is completely unsatisfactory. This is a policy issue, and there is a list. Slurry bags are eligible for the targeted agriculture modernisation scheme, TAMS, and there is a grant.

Young farmers can get their grant of 40% or 60% under TAMS for slurry bags. Not being able to reclaim VAT on it, however, is making it more expensive and prohibitive for many farmers to install them, even though they are an excellent solution to slurry issues and problems on farms.

The stock answer to the effect that this is a matter for Revenue, which is independent, is not satisfactory. I have had a number of instances of correspondence from Revenue. I did not take the first answer I got and I pursued the issue, but I have made no progress. It is adamant slurry bags are moveable objects and are not VAT debatable but I do not accept that. Will the Minister for Finance direct Revenue to carry out a proper categorisation of slurry bags and allow VAT to reclaimed on them? This is a significant issue at a time when the periods of slurry storage are increasing and farmers are looking at cost-effective options for increasing their capacity. The issue needs to be addressed urgently.

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