Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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Question 45: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the measures he will put in place to encourage young farmers to remain in agriculture in view of his recent announcement to suspend both the farm installation aid and farm retirement scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37405/08]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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A number of measures have been put in place in Budget 2009 to encourage young farmers to both enter agriculture and to increase their investment in farming. Most importantly, stamp duty relief for young trained farmers has been renewed in Budget 2009 for a further four years, until 31 December 2012. This means that, in combination with Capital Acquisitions Tax (Agricultural relief) and Capital Gains Tax (Retirement Relief), the vast majority of early farm transfers are exempt from tax.

In addition, there is the renewal of stamp duty relief for farm consolidation for two years from 1 July 2009 to 31 June 2011; the renewal of the young trained farmers' rates of stock relief for a further two years; and the extension of the accelerated capital allowance for necessary farm pollution control facilities from 31 December 2008 to the 31 December 2010. When combined these farm tax measures from Budget 2009 are estimated to be worth over €65 million in a full year. The top rate of stamp duty on agricultural land transactions is being reduced from 9% to 6% on amounts over €80,000 with effect from 15 October. This should reduce the cost of agricultural land to purchasers and encourage a higher number of transactions. All these measures help young farmers to improve land mobility, increase the level of land swaps and achieve higher environmental standards.