Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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82. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine for an update on the "farm successor scheme"; if he will outline the details of same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38012/24]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The Succession Farm Partnership Scheme run my Department provides a structure through which farmers and their successors can enter into a partnership with an appropriate profit-sharing agreement, on the understanding that the farm would eventually be transferred to the successor at the end of a specified period, not exceeding ten years. This scheme was introduced on the back of a new initiative on 'Family Transfer Partnerships’ to assist succession.

To support this transfer, a tax credit of up to €5,000 per annum for five years can be allocated to the partnership, once the family farm partnership is entered on the appropriate Succession Farm Partnership Register. There are currently 162 Succession Farm Partnerships on the Register of Farm Partnerships database.

Full details of the criteria for entry are available on my Department's website My Department processes Succession applications all year round.

The Succession Planning Advice Grant was subsequently launched in September 2023. This scheme is specifically aimed at encouraging best practice in intergenerational land transfer in order to address, among other things, significant generational imbalances in farming.

The grant is to encourage and support farmers aged 60 years and above to seek succession planning advice by contributing up to 50% of vouched legal, accounting and advisory costs, subject to a maximum payment of €1,500.

My Department received 81 applications for Tranche 1 which had a closing date of the 31st of December 2023. 52 of these applications were deemed eligible and have been processed and paid. The remaining 29 were either without correct documentations or ineligible.

A second Tranche was opened on the 1st of January 2024 and will remain open until the 31st of December 2024. Payments for this Tranche will issue in Q1 of 2025.