Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Boyhan for raising this matter and for his ongoing and active interest in all matters agricultural, both in the Seanad and on the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine, at which he is a consistent and effective contributor.

The issue of generational renewal and retirement is very important. The Senator referred to my tour of the marts when I visited at least one mart in every single county. Every farmer in the country had an opportunity to engage directly with me, whatever the question was, whether constructive, critical or suggestive, and to receive a response. One of the issues that arose as part of that engagement was generational renewal and one of the suggestions that came forward was to introduce an early retirement scheme, similar to what we had in the past. I decided ultimately not to go down that road. When we did it before it was found that it did not necessarily achieve its key objective of directing funding towards young farmers and getting young people into farming. Instead, it funded farmers who were under 65 years of age to leave early. A large number of farmers aged over 65 years who are entitled to the pension are staying on.

I want to get young people into farming. When we have a certain defined pot of money, is it better to give funding to people to retire early or is it better to target it at the young farmers we wish to encourage? The approach I have taken throughout the CAP has been to try to direct this funding towards young farmers. We have increased funding and improved all of the existing schemes. As we go forward, the key policy objective will be to bring about generational renewal and get young farmers into the industry to sustain it. Farming is a very exciting sector, more so now than it ever was. It is not just about producing food, which is central to what we do and continues to be a core mission, but also about other aspects. For example, how do we produce food sustainably and in a way that contributes to reversing the biodiversity decline that we have seen worldwide in recent years? Farmers have a central role to play in that, while continuing to do what they do so well, namely, producing food.