Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein)
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56. To ask the Minister for Social Protection her views regarding the falling number of farmers receiving farm assist payments; and if she is aware that the cutting of that payment is resulting in hardship to the most disadvantaged members of the farming community. [12811/15]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The farm assist scheme provides support for farmers on low incomes and is similar to jobseeker's allowance. Farm assist recipients retain the advantages of the jobseeker's allowance scheme such as retention of secondary benefits and access to activation programmes. The 2015 Revised Estimates for the Department provide for expenditure this year on the farm assist scheme of almost €89 million in respect of an estimated 9,440 recipients, down from 9,809 for 2014.

All recipients of farm assist have benefitted from the Christmas Bonus in December, 2014 and all recipients with children are benefiting from the increase in child benefit announced in Budget 2015.

Changes introduced in Budgets 2012 and 2013 have brought farm assist into closer alignment with the jobseeker's allowance scheme's treatment of self-employed persons.

The assessment of means for the purpose of qualifying for farm assist is designed to reflect the actual net income 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. Also any farmer experiencing lower levels of income can ask for a review of the means applying to their claim.