Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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81. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will consider increasing the age limit for stamp duty exemption for the transfer of land to a young trained farmer from 35 to 40 in line with the definition of a young farmer under the new Common Agricultural Policy arrangements; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18496/14]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy may be aware that I commissioned a review of the tax reliefs available to the farming sector in conjunction with my colleague the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine. The purpose of this review is to assess the benefits and costs of the various agricultural tax expenditures with a view to ensuring that the maximum benefit to the sector and the wider economy is obtained.

As part of the review, a public consultation process was launched which ran for 6 weeks. The review closed on 25 March 2014 and officials are reviewing the submissions. I do not intend to make any amendments to any agricultural based reliefs until such time as the review has been completed. The outcome of the review will be taken into account as part of the decision process leading up to Budget 2015.