Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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6. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will consider reversing the changes she made to farm assist with respect to income disregards in view of the fact that it has had a serious negative effect on the income levels of already-struggling farming families; the reasons she refuses to carry out an analysis to assess the impact these changes have had on those families; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17713/14]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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30. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she has carried out an analysis on the impact on farmers of her changes to farm assist with respect to income disregards; if she will reconsider the changes she has made; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17714/14]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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This is to ask the Minister whether she will consider reversing the changes she has made to the farm assist scheme with respect to income disregards since she came to office, given it has had serious negative consequences on farm income levels for already-struggling farm families. Second, will the Minister carry out an analysis or assessment of the impact these changes have made to farming families?

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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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.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister outlined what she had done since she became Minister and, as she will recall, before she became Minister she promised there would no cuts to basic social welfare payments. However, like many other Labour Party promises, that is a promise she broke when it came to the farming community. In successive budgets she reduced the amount of income earned by a farmer in his daily working life over the course of a year that can be disregarded. When she came to office, 70% of a farmer's net income was used to assess his income to calculate what his farm assist payment should be. She increased that in her first budget to 85% and she subsequently increased it and now there is no income disregard when assessing a farmer's income to decide the level of his farm assist payments.

The Minister indicated in her reply that any farm family comprising two parents and two children with an average income of €15,000 would qualify for a farm assist payment. I point out to her that the average income for a farming family with a beef farm is €11,000, which means that the income of a farming family with an average cattle rearing farm would be under threshold for farm assist. With the changes the Minister has brought in, on the basis of the payment that is given to such farmers, the work they carry out day in, day out does not count for anything. They are not given any benefit for the work they do over and above the standard dole payment, up to the level of which Minister brings their income.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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Thank you, Deputy. I will come back to you.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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Can the Minister give me information on the number of farm families that have taken a reduction in farm assist as a result of the changes she has brought in? Will she give a commitment to revisit this and reverse the regressive changes she has introduced to this scheme?

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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More importantly, when I met the farming organisations and their representatives, I learned, understandably, that what they were concerned about in the run-up to last year's budget was that farmers who were experiencing difficulties because of fodder shortages were likely to have much worse outcomes in terms of their income than might have been anticipated the previous year. What I did, and have done for self-employed people also, which was not the case when the Deputy's party was in government, was to provide that any self-employed person, farmer or fisherman can go into the Department of Social Protection and bring with them details of their current accounts, especially if they have lost their business or have had a sudden catastrophic fall in income, which might happen from time to time for people engaged in farming. This is in contrast to the period when Fianna Fáil was in government when those people would have been turned away. The Deputy will remember at the time of the previous general election that there were widespread complaints from self-employed people that they could not access social welfare payments, but now they can. A total of €91 million is being spent on this scheme and I gave the Deputy the number of farm families who benefit from it.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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There are approximately 10,000 farming families overall, and approximately 1,500 of those are in Donegal. The changes the Minister introduced to the income disregard means that for those 1,500 families, their income has been reduced and, as they come up for review, they are being assessed on the basis of an income of 30% less because the Minister has changed the basis from 70% of income being assessed to 100% of income being assessed. No benefit, incentive or recognition has been given for the fact that day in, day out those families work not only a 40 hour week but in many instances 12 hour days to run a family farm. The Minister is not giving any recognition to the fact they are working full-time. Instead she is bringing their income up to the level of the dole, which is a payment for people who are normally out of work and who we hope will be able to go back to work. However, those farming families work day in, day out. There needs to be recognition that they are in employment, carrying out a valuable role within their community and contributing to the rural economy. What the Minister has done is left many of those farmers in a situation where they get no benefit or reward for the daily work they carry out.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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Thank you, Deputy.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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It is totally unfair. It is affecting 1,500 families in Donegal and 10,000 nationally. It is totally against natural justice and it will drive those farm families off the land.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I must call the Minister.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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I ask the Minister to reverse the situation she has introduced and bring about a fair situation-----

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy is over time. I will have to turn off the Deputy's microphone if he continues.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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-----where they are given some reward and incentive for the work they do daily.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I call the Minister for a final reply.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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I would give the example of a farm family who have a gross income of €19,600 and costs and expenses of approximately €14,800, leaving them with an income of €4,700. That farm family would get a payment of €310.20 per week. That is in line with the benefit that both self-employed people and jobseekers would get. It is a significant support to the family. Obviously, the Deputy would like to see it increased.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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Or not cut, as the Minister has done.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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We will look at that in the context of the budget, but it is a significant support of €310 a week for such a family. It is an important support, in addition to other supports such as the rural social scheme and other schemes, which my Department offers widely to people from farming families. I recognise what the Deputy said about the significance, contribution and hard work of farming families being an enormous contribution to society. That is the reason, despite extraordinarily difficult budgetary pressures and legacy debts that were bequeathed when we came into office, that we have emphasised continuing the support-----

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister cut the farm assist payments. She is driving people off the land.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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-----at the level of €91 million per year. Assistance of €310 a week to the kind of farming family the Deputy is talking about is a significant assistance.

Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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It was greater.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I must proceed to the next question in the name of Deputy Ó Snodaigh.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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If conditions improve, we may be able to improve it.