Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is important that the Senator asked me to clarify the position, because it was the subject of an extensive Dáil Committee Stage debate and the Minister made further amendments which I should have outlined. The issue of an active farmer arose in regard to a number of sections, and therefore on Committee Stage the Minister clarified to whom the relief would be available. The relief, as amended, will now be available to farmers without formal farming qualifications spending not less than 50% of their normal working time farming agricultural property commercially and with a view to the realisation of profits, farmers with formal farming qualifications farming commercially with a view to the realisation of profits, beneficiaries of gifts or inheritance who lease their land on a long-term basis to such farmers and beneficiaries who would not otherwise qualify but could do so on obtaining a farming qualification within a four year window.

We have tried to expand the definition as much as possible. There was a concern about the definition referring to 50%. There are now four different categories of persons who can qualify for the relief.