Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I listened with interest to the issue raised by Senator Mary White. A somewhat similar issue is of concern to me. I listened carefully to the concerns expressed by the IFA and others about the operation of the fair deal scheme. The Deputy Leader, Senator Ivana Bacik, is aware that there is a general policy thrust in favour of encouraging younger farmers to take on the responsibilities of the land. There are various additionalities in the farm payments to enable young farmers to take over responsibility on a farm gradually. One inhibitor to younger farmers taking over is the operation of the fair deal scheme. There is a three-year cap on the family home in cases where an older person at home needs long-term care, but it does not apply to non-residential farming assets, which gives rise to a potentially uncapped liability which is effectively undermining the ability of younger farmers to invest and borrow money. One has a situation where people stay out of the fair deal scheme and try to meet the very onerous costs of nursing home care for a parent because they do not know for how long care will be required and they do not want to, in effect, destroy their ability to farm in the future. It seems that something must be done about this. We need a similar cap on the non-residential farming asset, namely, the farm.

It should not be beyond the limits of human ingenuity to come up with a scheme that would not be exploited. For example, the liability of the farm could be capped to three years of nursing home care, perhaps on the condition that the land would be farmed and that if it were to be subdivided among those who would inherit it, it would not be sold for a period of years, or if were within such a period, the liability for nursing home care under the fair deal scheme would kick in. This is something that must be examined in the context of the budget. The IFA has proposed that the three-year cap applying to the principal private residence be extended to income-generating assets. People who do not understand farming think farmers are sitting on massive properties and that this somehow makes them rich. A farm of high value on the market will very often deliver a very modest income to those who farm it. It must be seen as the means of making a modest livelihood rather than some massive asset that puts the farmers concerned on the gravy train. They are far from being on the gravy train. There is a problem and challenge in Galway and wherever there are farm families, in particular in situations where one or more persons hope to get into the business of farming in the future. There is a serious impediment that ought to be addressed in the budget.