Agriculture Schemes
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-17
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Albert Dolan (FF), Galway East

I want to raise the issue of generational renewal and, specifically, the need for a farm succession scheme. We have been talking about the age profile of Irish farming for many years but the figures tell us that we simply have not shifted the dial. Only around 4.3% of Irish farm holders are under the age of 35 while almost 38% are over 65. This should be a concern to all of us who want to see the future of the farm family succeed.
Macra na Feirme, which represents more than 16,000 young farmers and young rural people throughout the country, has consistently highlighted this issue. Its straightforward message is that young people want to farm but access to land, finance and timely succession can remain a major barrier. In the past we have tried different approaches. We had installation aid for young farmers and we had the early retirement scheme. More recently we introduced farm succession partnerships, which provide a tax credit of up to €25,000 over five years. We have other supports, such as the young farmer scheme, complementary income support for young farmers, the national reserve and enhanced TAMS. In the past few years we have had the succession planning advice grant, which came in during Deputy McConalogue's time as Minister for agriculture. These are all valuable supports but the age profiles tell us they have not been enough collectively.
The commission on generational renewal has given us a substantial body of work and 31 recommendations. Among the proposals are the establishment of a €25,000 payment to establish a young farmer and a generational renewal payment of up to €25,000 for an older farmer transferring the farm. I appreciate that a comprehensive farm succession scheme may not be achievable in this budget but could a commitment be given that we will now design a proper farm succession scheme? We can learn from the shortcomings of the other retirement schemes and establish a clear pathway towards implementation. Ultimately the incentive has to be strong enough to encourage succession not when a farmer reaches 75 or 80 years of age but when the next generation is young enough to invest, develop the family farm and build a future on it.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-17/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:48+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-17