Áine Brady (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)

The Senator is proposing to delete paragraphs which I introduced on Report Stage in the Dáil. These paragraphs were introduced to address concerns expressed by a number of Deputies on both Second and Committee Stages about the treatment of farms in the Bill. The effect of the amendments is to extend the three-year cap to farms and businesses in certain circumstances. The amendments provide that a farm or business shall be taken into account within the financial assessment for three years only in the following circumstances: where the person has suffered a sudden illness or disability which causes him or her to require long-term residential care; where the person or his or her partner was actively engaged in the daily management of the farm or relevant business up to the time of the sudden illness or disability; and where a family successor certifies that he or she will continue the management of the farm or relevant business. The policy intention underpinning the paragraphs is to safeguard the financial sustainability of family farms and businesses by ensuring that contributions from such assets are capped and fully quantifiable. As such, removal of these paragraphs would be detrimental to applicants to the scheme. I wish to highlight that the measures have been welcomed by the Irish Farmers Association. We envisage the majority of people would have transferred their farms or businesses more than five years before applying for the scheme, especially given that farming representative groups support early succession of farms. In this case, the farm or business will not be taken into account and no contributions will be payable.

The new measures I introduced on Report Stage in the Dáil address the situation where a person would not have had the opportunity to transfer such assets. For these reasons, I cannot accept amendments Nos. 36 and 37.