Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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256. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if new entrants to farming who apply for farm assist will qualify for the full rate in view of the fact that they will not have any income until the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine payments issue in November and December 2013; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29411/13]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The farm assist scheme is based on jobseeker’s allowance. It was introduced in 1999 to replace ‘Smallholders Unemployment Assistance’ for low income farmers, without the requirement to be available for and genuinely seeking work. Farm assist recipients retain all the advantages of the jobseeker’s allowance scheme such as retention of secondary benefits and access to activation programmes.

Farm assist is a flexible payment and any farmer experiencing lower levels of income or cash-flow issues can ask his/her local social welfare / Intreo office to review the level of means applying to his/her claim.

The assessment of means for the purpose of qualifying for farm assist is designed to reflect the actual net income and looks at gross income, less any expenses necessarily incurred, from farming. Income and expenditure figures for the preceding year are generally used as an indicator of the expected position in the following year. However, account is taken of any exceptional circumstances so as to ensure that the assessment accurately reflects the current situation. In the case of new entrants or persons changing from one type of farming to another the assessment looks at all expected annual income and is based on normal output and costs appropriate to normal stock levels, capacity, and market trends.

It may be noted that payments received under the Agri-Environment Options Scheme or Special Area of Conservation schemes are assessed separately from other farm income. With regard to this income the first €2,540 is disregarded, then 50% of the balance and related expenses are disregarded - with the balance being assessed as means.