Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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71. To ask the Minister for Social Protection her plans to review current qualifying criteria for farm assist; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32895/13]

Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)
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74. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will acknowledge the importance of farm assist as a dependency support for many farm families in rural Ireland; if she will commit to fully reviewing the scheme ahead of Budget 2014; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32897/13]

Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)
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107. To ask the Minister for Social Protection her views on the farm assist scheme; if she will acknowledge its importance as a dependency support for many farm families in rural Ireland; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32898/13]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 71, 74 and 107 together.

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 examine 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.

I met with a delegation from the Irish Farmers Association in May 2013 to discuss a range of issues, including difficulties arising as a result of fodder shortages and the operation of the farm assist scheme generally. Subsequent to that meeting my officials have held further discussions with the Irish Farmers Association and the operation of the scheme is under on-going consideration. Any changes to the scheme would be a matter for Government to consider in a budgetary context.