Seanad debates

Thursday, 24 November 2016

10:30 am

Photo of Maura HopkinsMaura Hopkins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I want to talk about the plight of young farmers and their inability to access the national reserve scheme. We all know that farmers are the lifeblood of our rural communities and we must be proactive in encouraging young people to enter and remain in farming. It has been really disappointing, and unacceptable, that there was no national reserve in 2016. Any news that it may not open in 2017 would be extremely disappointing. In 2015 there were 6,260 successful applicants in the national reserve scheme. The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Creed, has spoken on this in the Dáil when he said that EU regulations allow for surrender of entitlements that remain unused by farmers for two consecutive years and clawback of 50% following the sale of entitlements without land. If these do not generate a sufficient fund for the national reserve, then we need to look at other options. There has been a thorough updating of maps using computer remote sensing ground inspections. This means that most land parcels have scrub, roads, buildings and other non-eligible features digitised out. It is, therefore, very easy for us to conclude that land parcels claimed by farmers in 2015 and 2016 are unlikely to be different. With that in mind, there will not be enough entitlements returning to the national reserve due to non-use. My overall point is that we need this matter addressed urgently by the Minister. If we are serious about encouraging young people to enter and remain in farming then we need to support them. We need to support them properly by ensuring there is a national reserve open to them in 2017.

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