Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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Question 182: To ask the Taoiseach the number of full time and part time farmers in Ireland in 1946, 1956, 1966, 1976, 1986, 1996 and 2006. [20890/06]

Tom Kitt (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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Comparable figures are not available on the numbers of full-time and part-time farmers for all the years requested during the period 1946 to 2006. Up to 1991 the focus of agriculture surveys was on the land holding, without distinguishing between the holder's full-time or part-time involvement in farming. Table 1 shows the number of Agricultural Holdings over 1 acre for available years during the period 1945-1980.

In the 1991 Census of Agriculture, a new system was introduced which focused on the operational aspects of farming. All farms over one hectare (about 2.5 acres) were surveyed. It distinguished whether the farmer was involved full-time (i.e. his or her sole occupation was farming) or part-time (i.e. farming was a major or subsidiary occupation for him or her). Table 2 shows the total number of active farms from 1991 to 2003 (the latest data available), broken down into full-time and part-time.

The comparable estimate of the total number of active farms over one hectare in 1980 was 193,000, of which 158,000 were full-time and 35,000 part-time.